Originally Posted by
dnuzzomueller
While people do say back of the bars for a good reason what matters far more is how tight the overall routing is. For example if you were to route around the front but then let the cables go on the underside of the bar and across it sort of diagonally you would get a less overall bend then if you just followed the contour of the bar on the inside.
Have to disagree here. Yes, quite right the whole cable routing matters...but the achilles heel is right as the housing leaves the shifter. Behind the bar affords a softer radius and why it promotes less cable drag. Departing the shifter in front of the handlebar creates a very tight bend of the housing putting more internal radial force on the cable.