See any issues with running full housing...
 

and zip tie style cable guides on the TT?

I'm having a custom Ti CX bike built with disk mounts and will likely disks 90% of the time. That said I'm leaning toward zip tie style guides for both canti's and disks on the TT. If I run canti's I plan on using a seat binder style rear brake stop. Does anyone see any issues related to this style guide and running canti's? Thanks.

JR

There are two minor problems :

1. With new cable and housing, it will work properly. Strictly speaking, there will be a little bit more friction with full housing, but the extra resistance is fairly minimal when the housing runs in a straight line. However, add some grit, surface rust... and you will end up with sticky cables. So it will require more maintenance.

2. Aesthetics. Housing is bulkier than cable, and most significantly, you will never have perfectly straight cable lines. Somewhat curvy housings that run almost perfectly on each side of the downtube look sloppier than tight cables by themselves.

That being said, nothing prevents you from having more braze-ons than strictly necessary.
– Install one on the seatstays, high enough for the canti brake yet low enough so you'll have a gracious curve between the top tube and chain stay.
– Install one near the top of the left chainstay and one near the bottom, so they work for a run to the disc brake. Conceal them somewhat on the side of the stay so you won't scratch your skin on the cable and you won't notice the braze ons.

There are bolt on cable stops that may work as well.

Thanks great input. Based on this and a response on another forum also having experinced sticky cables with full housing I'm probably going to spec normal guides on the TT.

If you keep the cables properly lubed and maintained, you will not experience any more problems with full housing than you would experience during the race when they get full of muck. This is even more pronounced with your rear derailer cable, if you can have solid housing from the top tube all the way to the derailer itself, instead of the open cable right near your back tire, there is quite a bit of crap that get prevented from working its way into the cable housing.

In reality though, we are talking about a cyclocross bike here and cables get dirty pretty regularly. If they need to be changed, you change them. But, from experience, you will get longer cable life if they are completely enclosed. Then the only places for dirt and grime can enter are under and inside your shifter and then creeping up and into the housing, from a most likely near vertical end, near the back end of your bike...

personally, I think if you have the option, it is a more smart way to go about things, it doesn't make the cable/brake swap any more difficult, it just comes down to your own preference. Reguardless of how you set up the cables, they are going to need a little lube once and a while anyway. IF you do that, there wont ever be any rust inside the housing....

long winded I know...