Road Cycling - Shimano STI shifters & Campy's

Haven't had any experience using Campy shifters. But how is it that the shift cables (and the brake cables) are neatly wrapped under the bar tape in the Campy, while in the Shimano's only the brake cables go under the tape? Can the gear cables be wrapped inside as well or is that not possible/will affect shifting? Is it to do with the way the Campy shifter is designed and aligned? Thanks

Haven't had any experience using Campy shifters. But how is it that the shift cables (and the brake cables) are neatly wrapped under the bar tape in the Campy, while in the Shimano's only the brake cables go under the tape? Can the gear cables be wrapped inside as well or is that not possible/will affect shifting? Is it to do with the way the Campy shifter is designed and aligned? Thanks

Yes it´s possible , yes it does affect the shifting and why bother when it allows you to change the cables without removing the handlebartape ?
It´s a design / copyright thing and the only advantage is that it allows tourers to fit handlebarbags .
What you use makes little difference , the pros can win with either but Shimano is more of a problem to fix when it breaks while Campag wears in then wears out BUT can be rebuilt easily by a good bike shop - Shimano you have to send away and it´s pricey - in reality a matter of choice and preferences not quality or function though Simano does have a " fudge factor " built into the rear mech that can make adjustment a bit easier.

there is a cable outer that´s made that will allow you to tape over the shifter cables but it´s very expensive ( but light ) and even with that the shift does stiffen up noticably .

Is it to do with the way the Campy shifter is designed and aligned?

Yes. Campagnolo designed their integrated shifters with the shifting mechanism inside the brake hood and separate from the brake lever. Shimano's approach was to make the shifting mechanism part of the brake lever assembly and, as such, the entire shifting mechanism is external to the brake hood and integrated with the brake lever.

You can see side-by-side photos of the two different lever designs as the following URL: http://home.att.net/~thetandemlink/stivsergo.html

Therefore, Campy's shifting mechanism is in a fixed position inside of the hood and there is no need for cable housing movement whatsoever. The Shimano mechanism rotates forward and back every time the brake lever is pulled, and rotates side-to-side when the brake lever is used as a shifter, therefore, the brake cable housing must be free to move around.

Can Shimano's cables be wrapped under the bar tape? Well, actually, they can. Erik Zabel had his mechanics do just that on his '04 T-Mobile Team bike. You can read the why and how and see photos here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/tech/?id=jul13-1

I had read about this in Velo News (see link below) in an article by Lennard Zinn. There are lots of other discussion about this, but I had these bookmarked because was going to do this on my ride

http://www.velonews.com/tour2004/tech/articles/6575.0.html
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2004/tour04/tech/?id=jul13-1

Hope there's something there you can use...

Yes it´s possible , yes it does affect the shifting and why bother when it allows you to change the cables without removing the handlebartape ?
It´s a design / copyright thing and the only advantage is that it allows tourers to fit handlebarbags .
What you use makes little difference , the pros can win with either but Shimano is more of a problem to fix when it breaks while Campag wears in then wears out BUT can be rebuilt easily by a good bike shop - Shimano you have to send away and it´s pricey - in reality a matter of choice and preferences not quality or function though Simano does have a " fudge factor " built into the rear mech that can make adjustment a bit easier.

there is a cable outer that´s made that will allow you to tape over the shifter cables but it´s very expensive ( but light ) and even with that the shift does stiffen up noticably .

You can replace Campy cables without removing bar tape.