Bicycle Mechanics - Bar End shifter question

A few months ago I built a bike using an older Italian road frame. Since it originally had come with down tube shifters, that's the way I built it. Plus, by using down tube shifters and areo brake levers, the price and weight advantage over STI is amazing. At this point I am considering a change to bar end shifters. Here are a couple of questions that I'd like input on: What is the shifter cable routing like? How are they routed through the handle bars?

You will put housing stops where your shifters are now, then loop housing around to the ends of your drop bars or it will go more or less straight out to the aero bar ends with enough drop to not bind on turning.
The housing stays outside the bars. I just tape over it till it turns away from the bar.

There are two ways to run the cable to bar-end shifters.

The typical way is exactly like Rev. Chuck described. The Trek 520 shown here (http://www.trekbikes.com/bikes/2004/road/520.jsp) is an example.


Another less usual way is to conceal the cable housing all the way along the handlebars, and to exit near the stem. In other words, the housing runs under the drops, then inside the brake lever, then on the forward side of the handlebars just next to the brake cable. It is said to make sloppier shifts, but I and a few others who have done so have no problems shifting. If you have seen it, it's fairly similar to the routing of ergo shifter cables.
One nice aspect of that routing is that you get a nice-looking bike without any apparent cable loops.
There is one drawback : you might need a rear cable in front and a tandem cable for the rear derailleur. On my 25" frame with 46-cm handlebars, a standard shifter cable is about 10 cm too short.


And a final note: some people prefer to run the right (rear) cable to the left cable stop, and vice versa, then have both cables cross eachother under the downtube. The crossover has negligible friction, so it's mostly a matter of handlebar height and position of the stoppers to see which routing is nicer. On my bike I keep rear-right all the way, but on my daughter's daughter (14" frame, 20" wheels), the crossover is better.

Regards,

On my Peugeot UO-8, I chiseled off the single downtube shift boss, installed the cable stop over the same spot, and routed the cables straight forward, then gently curved in a half-circle, back towards the barcons. I taped over the end of the cable, for the first 3-4 turns of tape, then let the cable housings emerge from the bottom of the bars, just behind the start of the curve. For a fully retro look, I have a small cylindrical Bellwether handlebar bag, which helps support the cable housings.

I dislike taping barcon cables all the way up the bars, because it increases drag between the inner wires and their housings.