Advice on gear shifters to use on flatbar racer

[sfarres]

Here is my first post at Cyclingforums as I am complete quick-to-learn novice in the world of "racer-setups", so be gentle.

Currently I am building a flatbar racer and trying to circle-the-square on the whole gear shifter problem I am facing. So, I have ultegra mechs front and rear with ultegra 9-speed cassette and a Cannondale 2 ring chainset. The cycle shop were happy to advise me to use any of the Shimano 9-speed shifter-pods which should work fine for the rear mech. The problem both they and I couldn't solve is with the front mech and the 2 rings setup, all the shifter-pods are for 3-ring setups.

I understand that lefthand shimano pods pull 20mm of cable with each click, am I right that the racer ultegra STI's (brake/shifter combo on the curled handlebars) pull only 10mm? This raises the question... What shifter to use for the front mech?

Any ideas would be gratefully received. Thanks

 

[gclark8]

Use Shimano SL-R440 or SL-R660 Shifter and FD-R440 Front Derailleur. (Page 148, 2005 book)

 

[sfarres]

This is similar to what the bike shop quoted from their Shimano manual, which is fine, I understand shimano are cautious about mix-and-match.

Question is, what are readers experiences of using, say, an XT (M750) or XTR (M952) shifter-pod with Ultegra front mech. Do the pods pull too much cable through between gears as suggested (20mm vs. 10mm)?

Surely other readers have experimented with mixing MTB shifters with Ultegra mech!

Cheers again.