Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

The easiest of all to shift in front is bar-end shifters, but unless you build a custom bike, I don't think you can get those any more.
Emily
My new Rivendell came standard with bar end shifters. I am a novice biker, but I got used to them pretty quickly, and they shift very easily for me with no problems at all. I'm sure they are not for everyone though. I got the front with friction shifting, and back with index shifting.