BT, I'm sorry I haven't read the entire thread. My contacts are drying up.

It seems a shame to change the old bike to double and then buy a triple. Seems more efficient/economical tokeep the triple and buy a whole new double. That's essentially what I've done, although it was not planned. I understand your reasoning, but wanted to know if possibly you've considered a few "fixes."

So old bike has sora triple (trek 1000)

new bike has ultegra double.

I'm not small like you so what I say may not apply.

On the old bike, I started riding without knowing anything about bikes. Every time I'd shift into granny, I'd drop my chain, I didn't know about crosschaining and stuff. I wouldn't use granny and learned to bike without it. I kept taking it back to the shop and saying that I kept dropping that chain. They finally installed this little plastic knob that keeps the chain from dropping. I thought it was called a "chain keeper" but I looked that up and it was not the right thing. I went and looked at the bike but couldn't read it tonight. (I'll need to get it outside tomorrow to read the part). I've never dropped the chain since it was put on. I don't know...it may look fred, but it gives me the confidence that I need to ride safely. Ironically, I still don't use granny much, cause I learned to ride without it. Hence, my desire to get a double.

So, the new bike has a double. I've had to learn about crosschaining. I've dropped the chain several times. all times when I had crosschained. I did it today. I'm still getting a feel for what gear I'm in and usually give a look see to be sure before I shift.

Finally, I've recently seen that a couple of bikes have little indicators that give you an idea of what gear you are in. Mr.'s Lemond (It think it's 105 triple) has one.

Finally, I also, recently learned that the way that shifters are brought in closer for WSD bikes are by placing a specially designed shim into the shifters, thus bringing in the levers closer to the handle bars. I've thought about trying to get some of these. I do have really long fingers, but thought that maybe it would give me some more confidence to have my fingers more fully around the levers.

just a couple of thoughts.