Stem shifters

[Catrin]

Now that I finally learned why heavy tourers don't use brifters, can you explain why they DO come with bar-ends instead of down-tube shifters? It would seem to me that bar-end shifters have the same issue - worse even.

I'm thinking if I ever get around to building up a tourer, I'll stick with down-tube shifters...

Why don't they come with brifters? Is it because STI shifters are overly complicated to fix on a tour if there is a problem?