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The mechanism's don't really mix all that well with mud and grit. Brake levers and shifters also tend to get pretty bashed up in crashes.

These look pretty interesting but at the projected price I'm not sure they'll be all that competitive with either ergo levers/STI levers (shifting convenience) or bar end shifters (reliability).

Never used bar end shifters (never ridden cyclo-x). I remember XT thumbshifters being a dream though, no bloody plastic indicator things to break, easy to use when its cold, indexing / non indexing, strong, etc..... Great design!