Originally Posted by
Fredo76
I'm going to be trying Suntour ratcheting friction barcons soon. My cable guides are on the top of the BB, so I can't use the criss-cross trick, and am planning to exit at the first bend of the bars, in the classic style. My dilemma is whether to use the set of original cables that I have, or to go with a modern Jagwire 2x Pro Shift set. My inclination is to go with the original stainless steel housing and galvanized inner wire, greased at the appropriate length and spots with some fancy "Extreme Fluoro" grease. The OD of the two sets is very close, and the SS housing probably looks a little more low-key than matching white but thinner diameter modern shift cable set. They will go with six and seven-speed wheels, using a Suntour Cyclone FD and V-GT Luxe RD. Maybe even with white Tressostar bar tape!
Anyone have any bar wrapping tips? Like how to keep the housing from squirming around where it comes out, and how far up from the end that should be - still on the straight part of the drops, or tilted up a bit past the start of the curve? It seems like I could get a better overlap at either spot by wrapping from the brake lever toward the end, but then I'll need to finish the ends - can't just tuck them in under a chrome spring plug. I have some white heat-shrink tubing for that, but wrapping from the end towards the brake lever would solve it, too.
...as stated above, the original stainless housing is very compressible, so there's a less positive feel to the shifting. I have never reused the stuff. Brake housing works OK, if you buy the stuff with a plastic liner, and it's a tiny bit more flexible than the compressionless, index housing stuff .
I, too, exit these barcon cable runs up near the stem. I use 3M double sided tape over the bar and housing, on the lower bar beneath the brake levers, then another continuous wrap for the upper part. The bar tape then goes on over all of that, and seems to stay in place for me. I start the tape at the bottom, using a small piece of vinyl electrical tape to secure the end. This tape gets hidden as you wrap over it, going upward on the bar.... clockwise around the bar on the lower, then counterclockwise on the top (past the brake levers.)
