Joe asked: "What is the reason for routing the cables along the bars that way? It seems to me that having them exit the bar-tape at the bottom of the curve would create a nice loop of cable back to the stops"
There are three common reasons (and there may be more) 1. So those big loops don't catch on things. For drop bar mountain bikes, a lot of people wrap that way just to have fewer things flapping in the breeze to catch on branches and such. 2. To make room for a handlebar bag. If you are always going to run something big and boxy in front of your handlebars, those loops of housing get in the way. On my Bombadil, I just put on a huge Wald basket/shopsack and my barcon housing it kind of squished out of the way by my basket. It makes my basket look like an afterthought, which it kind of is. A keen eye can look at my bike and say "Bill didn't think about the basket when he set up his shifters" and they'd be right. I'll probably think about re-doing my shifter setup under the bar tape this winter. 3. Just for the looks of it. It's a different, some might say cleaner, look. For what it's worth, my Dad's 1973 Windsor (that I just restored last winter) had barcon shifters on drop bars and the housing was under the tape all the way to the top. So this is nothing new. Over 40 years ago it was a common approach. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Thursday, September 18, 2014 7:17:56 AM UTC-7, Joe Bernard wrote: > > What is the reason for routing the cables along the bars that way? It > seems to me that having them exit the bar-tape at the bottom of the curve > would create a nice loop of cable back to the stops, then continuing > straight back along the top-tube. I wouldn't want all those sharp bends > along the bars, then down to the frame. > > Joe "Silver bar-ends, Alba bars, one loop back to top-tube routing on my > Schwinn MTB" Bernard > Vallejo, CA. > > On Thursday, September 18, 2014 6:18:30 AM UTC-7, Tim Gavin wrote: > >> Crossing the right/rear over to the left side makes the cable housing >> loop around the outside of the head tube, minimizing rub on the paint. It >> makes for a longer housing but with a wider radius curve. You can usually >> cross the cable back over pretty easily, either on the downtube for >> traditional shift mount points, or behind the seat cluster for a bike with >> top tube routing. >> >> I recently built up a gravel bike for my girlfriend out of a late 90s >> Univega Alpina 504 (DB CroMo frame, Deore LX group, top tube cable >> routing). I ran bar-end shifters on Nitto RM-14 dirt drops, and crossed >> the housing to minimize rub. The right/rear goes to the left side of the >> top tube, runs all the way on the left side, and crosses over behind.below >> the seat tube cluster, and continues down the right seat stay to the rear >> derailer. The left/front crosses over to the right side of the top tube, >> and transitions from the right side to the top-center for the top-pull >> derailer. Sorry, no pics yet. >> >> No problem with that top pull FD, a late 90s Deore LX. >> >> Tim >> >> On Wed, Sep 17, 2014 at 9:55 PM, ted <ted....@comcast.net> wrote: >> >>> I have ben experimenting with running shift cables on my top tube. Seems >>> to me the right / rear shifter should go on the right side of the top tube >>> so it runs onto the right seat stay and down to the rd cleanly. Why do you >>> chose to take the right shifter cable to the left side of the top tube? >>> >>> While on the topic of routing shift cable up top, any opinions on top >>> pull fd's? >>> >>> >>> On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 7:44:53 PM UTC-7, Philip Williamson >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> I've had two mountain bikes with derailleur cables running over the top >>>> tube. I like it. My Singular with full derailleur housing down the down >>>> tube bugged me so much I made the bike a singlespeed. I second the idea of >>>> asking for normal cable stops. Right shifter cable crosses the head tube, >>>> and goes onto the left side of the top tube. >>>> >>>> Philip >>>> www.biketinker.com >>>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
