^^^^ You are correct, the cable would pass with several mm clearance below the second bridge if I run it right to the yoke. I've since found more detailed photos of two clones of this bike, both for sale here in the midwest. One is in Indianapolis, and shows the cable running right to the yoke, not through the second bridge, with plenty of clearance. The other, remarkably, is in Lincoln Park / Chicago, a time capsule bike that was just unboxed and assembled. That person passed the unhoused cable through the second bridge. Just for grins,I Emailed him and asked if there were directions in the box about that particular aspect of the assembly.

But my gut is telling me you are right thumpism ; even the profile of that first bridge seems to orient the stop/adjuster so that as the cable exits the housing, it'll be pointed to pass below the next bridge. Well, I gotta stop speculating and go cut some housing and start setting it up. Thanks for the info.

Edit - confirmed - they actually went to the trouble of orienting the first bridge so the cable stop orients the housing juuuuust slightly downward. When the core exits the stop barrel dead center, it passes directly to the yoke. If I pass the core through the second bridge, it actually passes "high" through the stop barrel. For what was such a "cheap" bike BITD, that was some careful, thoughtful design.