Thanks everyone- these are great ideas.

My (much more limited) experience is also that the triple/STI shifter combo doesn't seem to work so well. I have 2 bikes with bar end shifters and the front deraillers shift beautifully (and one of those bikes is a 15 year old touring bike that's suffered some neglect over the years- even when it hadn't had a tune up in 5 years the triple still shifted perfectly). I was looking at the compact for 2 reasons- weight and the ease of shifting. Deb's idea of a downtube shifter sounds really appealing though.

I've never ridden a bike with downtube shifters (my touring bike has bar end shifters). I'd love to hear some opinions about positioning/ease of shifting with downtube shifters.

Also- anyone out there who has an ultegra triple front derailler with an STI shifter? Does it shift well?

How about thoughts on weight of a triple vs a compact? I'd be picking up roughly 100 grams right? I could probably live with that. Switching one of the STI shifters to a regular brake lever and a downtube shifter would drop a little bit of weight?