Jamis Aurora vs Surly Long Haul Trucker

[Catrin]

I know.
You can still hold on to the handlebars a little bit with the barcon shifters.
Or someone could weigh in on whether these will work.

I know that the bars for the small LHT are supposed to be compact, smaller than on the larger sizes so I am hoping that I can just move my hand down the bar to get to the shifters without having to actually let go

I have also heard about Pauls Thumbies? Something like that, someone posted a picture a while back in another thread on this forum. It looked like another solution - similar to your link at velo-orange.

Slash, thanks for your kind words - and you nailed it in one I can go LOOK at much larger versions of all three bikes (and I have) but that isn't the same as being able to test ride something. Then again, I know a lot of people are in this position and it is just my, ummm, detailed approach to it all that has turned this into my Touring Bike Epic