SRAM bar end shifters

[HillSlugger]

All of the tri bikes I tested yesterday has SRAM shifters and they were all incredibly stiff and hard to shift; this was a large part of my dissatisfaction with the bikes. The sales guy told me that this was due to the stronger springs that SRAM uses and the way the levers are designed.

Who's using these? Does it get better?

[Tri Girl]

stiffer than my DA bar end shifters? I find that hard to believe.
My DA is so "chunky and clunky" that it drives me nuts. Apparently that's normal???

[HillSlugger]

My current tri bike has older Ultegra and I shift with finger pressure. Yesterday I had to grab the levers in a fist to wrestle it into the next gear. I couldn't shift without having to completely change my grip on the aerobars; it doesn't make any sense to me.

[Tri Girl]

My current tri bike has older Ultegra and I shift with finger pressure.

Really? Then maybe I need to change components. I don't have to wrestle to change gears, but it sure isn't smooth as butter- although I can do it from aero with no problem. Do you think it's just that it's new and stiff?
Seriously- your bike is so gorgeous!!! My Cervelo P2C is 3 years old and the color scheme is: guess what? Red, black and white. Mostly white. I really hate the color scheme, but you're right- everything was in those colors. Odd that it's still that way 3 years later.
Would it be weird if I wanted to paint my bike a different color? Can you even do that with carbon? It looks like everyone else's bike- and I like to be unique and odd.