Originally Posted by
arty dave
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.
The hub I have is a S5.2 from the early 80s. It doesn't have a bell crank. The left side has an indicator spindle and chain like the right side, so it operates the other way around. Medium ratios are with the cable tight and wide is slack cable. I hope it works as well as the bell crank, we'll see. It came with the top tube shifters, but I won't use them. Back in the day, the convenience of handlebar shifting was unique to IG hubs and is something I always appreciated about these bikes. TT shifting seems awkward and unnecessary to me.