Bicycle Mechanics - older road bike with top tube brake cable braze ons...

my brake cable housing runs right down the top tube of my bianchi. IM putting new cables/housings on it and i have no idea how the cable routes...

My rear brake is my right hand and comes out of the sti shifter along the aero style bars under the tape and i need to know if you are suppose to route that around the front of the head tube or just come down the right side into the braze ons. Going around the head tube provides less bend but the front end looks sloppy at that point. I have no idea how it was originally.

I have an '83 Trek 400 with the same top of the toptube rear brake cable routing. I don't have STI's on it but I do have aero brake levers so I have the same cable routing issues. BTW, I don't think that this was a problem "originally" since the bike probably came with old-style brake levers with the cables exiting the top.

I ran the rear brake cable housing around the front of the headtube to the right side (the non-drive side) and left enough of a service loop so the bars can turn to either extreme without the cable binding. It's not as pretty as cable routing with the modern 7 o'clock cable guides but it does give good brake action as the bend is less extreme than doing it the other way.

Most of these are run on the L hand lower side of the top tube. If on top of the top tube, it
is likely your best bet is to run the housing on the L side of the head tube. Are the brazeons
designed to pass the housing through along with the cable? My PX10 had clampon top tube
brake cable holders and the top of the top tube was the route with the brake housing exitting
the brake almost vertically, the best route was on the R side of the head tube. You could
try it both ways for aestheics and function (function meaning what happens to the cable when
you rotate the bars through full range of motion R<->L. A bit of clear tape on the head tube
will reduce paint rub out by the cable/housing.

yes ....the housing along with the cable.....

its tricky to know what way it was orginally. It looks funny comming off my right hand lever around to the left side......all the way down...and then into the brake (which is on the left). It makes the front end look funny.....

now im starting to question my shifter housing lengths.....should they cross each other forming a loop over the front tire where they cross?

here is couple of pics

sorry about the strange blotches......i tried to blot out the background so the pic was more obvious

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25679213@N02/2555346658/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25679213@N02/2555346652/

i dont know if the housings for the shifters are suppose to be that long where they cross each other before they come back to their respective sides and go into the down tube adjusters

also you can see what im saying with the brake cable. I have moved it over to the right side for the pic. Is this routed properly for the rear or does it come across the headtube before going down the top tube braze ons....to the back left side.

Sheldon Brown's site has an article on running cables that you should check out.


http://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html

Keep in mind that if you route the rear brake to the right lever, you won't be able to signal and use the front brake - that is, if signaling is to your normal riding characteristics. Have a look at the "right front, left front" comments here: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cables.html#routing

-Kurt

I definitely prefer right lever to front brake. If you want to keep the right lever to the back brake, I would definitely route around the top tube for a larger radius curve.

yup..i kept it on the right but went around the left of the TT and it works great. I just thought it looked a bit funny when i was stringing them up.

thanks all

I definitely prefer left lever to front brake...but I am left-handed.