Originally Posted by
Milton Keynes
How often do brifters just "crap out?"
99.9% of the time it's lack of maintenance (i.e., replacing cables and housing).
Carrying a thumbshifter sounds ludicrous. I'm pretty sure those cheap ones don't split so you have to unwrap the bartape, pull the 'brifter' off of the handlebar, install the thumbshifter, brifter, and re-tape that half of the bar.