Originally Posted by
BigChief
I never liked the idea of running a fully housed cable all the way down to a stop on the chain stay for 3 speed hubs. The top tube stop and guide wheel feels so much more responsive and precise. A sprite I have originally had two top tube mounted stick shifters with full housed cables to a stop on the seat stays on both sides. I changed the right side 3 speed to the usual top tube stop and guide wheel and handlebar mounted 3 speed trigger. For the left side bell crank, I used a handlebar mounted SunTour power shifter, fully housed cable along the top tube to the original stop on the seat stay. Works well, but now that I look at it, I think the top tube looks too cluttered with all those cables. This time, I think I'll route the bell crank cable along the down tube to a stop on the chain stay. I am satisfied with a fully housed cable to operate the bell crank.
That was another option I was contemplating - and you're right, with a rear brake cable there might be too much action on the top tube. I have a bike set up with a Sachs 3 speed coaster hub, and that's running bare cable from a stop on the down tube through a pulley at the bottom of the seat tube. I've read that some people don't like this routing as you can snag your heel on the bare cable, but I've never experienced this. A chain guard would easily take care of this if it was an issue.