Originally Posted by
scarlson
Just drill the stem to pass the cable through. Jan Heine asked Nitto engineers if it was acceptable, they OK'd it, and he published a tutorial in Bicycle Quarterly a few years back. My Ron Cooper touring rig has a drilled Nitto Technomic Deluxe and my Vitus 979 has a drilled Cinelli 1A and I still have all my teeth. I've also done three old Sakae Ringyo stems for two of my friends. They also still have all their teeth. Drill the smallest hole you can get away with for the cable, then peel back 4mm of the outer rubber from the housing and counterbore about 3mm deep in this size. It's the only cable hanger that has negative weight and it is stiff as a rock!
Or get one of those quill MTB stems from the '90s with built-in hanger (most are ugly), or some Herse/Singer/Routens/Goeland/Charrel constructeur thingy (pretty but pricey and likely in a French size although Jack Taylor made standard 22.2 quill filet brazed aftermarket stems with cable hangers for anyone who could pay and these show up on Ebay from time to time).
On bikes with a really short stem I have also hung a cable hanger meant for a seat binder from the handlebar pinch bolt.
Same trick Univega used on the 1992 Via Carisma, and probably other bikes.
This thread from last year illustrates the trick -- just a hole large enough for the cable and ferrule through the top about halfway; and just enough for the cable itself the rest of the way.
Simple, rigid and, unfortunately, inflexible if you need to adjust the stem height.
Changing the stem height requires redoing the front brake cable. PITA. My Univega's original stem was already low as it would go and that was fine for a couple of years. But as my neck and back flexibility improved I wanted the stem lower to get a bit more aero for long slogs into headwinds (like Wednesday night -- 12 miles home into 20 mph headwind with gusts).
So recently I swapped to the 0 angle stem I'd taken off my road bike. Put a stamped cable hanger in the headset. Now I can adjust the stem as desired without affecting the cable.
Only problem is I want the front brake cable loop under the albatross handlebar like the rest of the cables. So eventually I'll try a different cable hanger, maybe one of the Tektros that bolts to the canti brake bolt.
But once you've settled on a setup you like the cable hanger through stem trick would be fine.
My Univega last year, original stem with built-in cable hanger (counterbored holes). Since then I've switched to a zero angle stem, stamped metal cable hanger in the headset and albatross bar.
Overhead view, same stem, different bar. Now it has a zero angle stem from my road bike, stamped cable hanger in the headset.