I've been using SunTour barcons since late '76. I had been riding a bike with stem shifters previously, and I felt awkward reaching down to the downtube to shift when I bought my S-10S new in Oct '76. My college roommate had SunTour barcons on his Viscount and I thought that those were even better!! They've been on my Fuji since then as my only bike until the BF.net enablers got to me.
Nothing wrong with the barcons, but since joining BF I got newer bikes!!! Now all of my other road-ridden bike have them because that's what I'm used to - and comfortable with! Two are double crank, and two are triples, all wear six-speed freewheels!!! Yeah, my newest road-ridden bike is already close to 35 years old. So what? I like it - and am still riding, and that is all that matters!!!!