Quote Originally Posted by dianne_1234 View Post
Could the high hand force needed at the lever be something unrelated to the STI lever itself?
Maybe in individual cases, but in general people (myself included) mention this issue with brand new complete bikes, and with brand new shifters/cables/housings professionally installed. (Plus, if that were the case, then the FD would be balky to downshift as well as hard to upshift.) It just takes a lot of force to upshift 105/Ultegra FDs.