Bicycle Mechanics - Am I seeing things?

Take a look at the picture of the handle bars. Anything look wrong to you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7238813087&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

the ad seems sketchy as hell but the handle bars look ok to me. what do you see?

Yup. You got me. Maybe the ad is a teensy bit sketchy, but I don't see what you're getting at with the handlebars.

check out the cable routing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v602/ootah/dfgas.jpg
alright so I'm bored at work :p ....marked each of the four cables in two places

cable 1, FD
cable 2, Front Brake
cable 3, RD
cable 4, Rear Brake (though you can't really see where it starts..I'm kind of assuming here)

I also haven't ridden a bike with brifters in quite some time so maybe I'm missing something obvious.

The cables are way too long for my taste and I don't like STI cable routing in general (too much loose cable), but one usually gets better performance by routing the right shifter cable to the left side and the left one to the right side. The cables then cross eachother under the downtube. The advantages are:

– curves have a larger radius;
– it's possible to use shorter cable housing without interfering with the handlebar steering;
– cable housings stay away from the headtube and don't wear the paint.

Okay...very clever.

Give Sam the kewpie doll!

Where is the seller located? Not every country runs the same setup that we do, just like not every country drives on the same side of the road.

You're right though, Sam. Those are opposite of "US standard".

Perhaps the OP doesn't like the way the derailleur cables are cross routed....?

Or, I guess they could have crossed under the downtube like Michael Gagnon said. Hadn't considered that.

I would think the friction against each other wouldn't be a good thing. Not to mention some of the odd and angled routings you may get, depending on the channels under your BB.

My Cannondale came cabled that way. They cross each other under the downtube, so they hit the correct channels in the guide under the BB shell. There is so little friction between the cables that they will need replacing for normal wear and tear long before they frayed each other where they cross.

The cables are way too long for my taste and I don't like STI cable routing in general (too much loose cable), but one usually gets better performance by routing the right shifter cable to the left side and the left one to the right side. The cables then cross eachother under the downtube. The advantages are:

– curves have a larger radius;
– it's possible to use shorter cable housing without interfering with the handlebar steering;
– cable housings stay away from the headtube and don't wear the paint.


Didn't realize people did this on purpose! I wonder what the % is. I would never do it because I can barely remember which barrel adjuster goes with what now!:roflmao:

I would never do it because I can barely remember which barrel adjuster goes with what now!:roflmao:

You'll remember them....since there're only two...:D

I have my mountain bike set up this way, the cables cross under the down tube. It does allow for shorter cables and less interference. I would not route them any other way, at least on this frame.

I believe that the Guru Sheldon Brown recommends this cross routing for the reasons MG stated, or maybe talked about it. I forget which:)

how i do it, how everybike ive seen does it, park tool recommends this as well as sheldon brown

Or, I guess they could have crossed under the downtube like Michael Gagnon said. Hadn't considered that.

I would think the friction against each other wouldn't be a good thing. Not to mention some of the odd and angled routings you may get, depending on the channels under your BB.

The friction is negligible. Yes, there is a very tiny amount, but remember, these cables are running straight past each other under tension. The slight amount of friction is more than made up for by the reduction in friction due to larger-radius bends in the housing at the handlebars and less kinking when the handlebars turn. I don't have brifters, but I'm using bar-ends with cross-over cable routing. It works great.

I believe that Sheldon Brown recommends this cross routing...

Right. http://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html#crisscross

and: http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-cadent/pages/raleigh-cadent09.html

Sheldon "CrissCross" Brown

+-------------------------------+
| It's never too late to have |
| a happy childhood |
| --Jacek Rudowski |
+-------------------------------+

how i do it, how everybike ive seen does it, park tool recommends this as well as sheldon brown

Ah yes, I know of this Sheldon "Be careful if you brake on my bike" Brown.;)

Anyone who advocates using the right hand for the front brake and left for the rear is an anarchist! Here's proof: http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

Actually, while the shift cable routing makes sense, the brake set up should make even more sense for me. With over 270,000 miles and counting on motorcycles you'd think I'd have problems switching back and forth. On a motorcycle, my right hand controls the front brake. On my bicycles, it's my left.

In most situations, proper braking on a motorcycle is virtually identical to that on a bicycle. Yet, it takes absolutely no thought for me to apply the proper amount of braking to the proper wheel when I go back and forth. How my brain does this, I have no idea.

While I may one day cross my shift cables, I doubt I ever change my brakes.:eek:

I run the cables crisscrossed on several of my bikes as well (commuter, roadies, tandem). It works great. There's plenty of space between the brazeons on the downtube or headtube and the BB cableguide for the crossover to happen and the cables to still run properly once they get to the cableguide. One of my bikes has a big AL downtube, so the crisscross on that one touches the tube. I've tried it, and it still works fine, but the long-term effects of it might be problematic with the cables taking paint off the tube or something along those lines. Design issues like that are the only reason I know of not to cross the cables.

I'm in the same camp. My first 'adult' bike, a Cannondale, came like this about 10 years ago, and I've routed every bike I've wokred on since the same. The shorter cable length and smoother angles are great, there's really no wear at all between the cables on the downtube. It never really occurred to me that it was atypical until a couple of guys at the co-op almost made me tear down a donated bike I'd just finished working on.


Anyone who advocates using the right hand for the front brake and left for the rear is an anarchist! Here's proof: http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

While I may one day cross my shift cables, I doubt I ever change my brakes.:eek:

I almost did this the last time I had the cables off - I think I'd really like it once I got used to it, since I'm right handed to start with and I need to be using the front brake a lot more than I do. I decided against it for purposes of comfort and because other people sometimes use the bike. I definitely plan on trying it out sometime though.