anakiwa, that does seem like a nice option, and I hope it works well for you.
If we get some warm weather in the next month or two, I might go test ride bikes with different shifters before I make my final decision. Barcons are the closest thing currently on the market to the friction downtube shifters I'm used to. I did ride a bike with STI recently for a couple miles, and while the rear did shift nicely, I didn't like the way the lever wobbled back and forth while braking. Besides, I think STI shifters look big and bulbous and ugly. The barcon rear shifter can run in friction or indexed mode, so I won't be locked into only 9 speed cassettes, and the system is field-repairable.