Bar cons rock! It just goes to show you that you don't need expensive electronic shifting or brifters to have great shifting at your fingertips.

The one bar-con set up I used reversed the levers and came out the upper bars then crossed over to their proper cable stop.

Didn't last long since I do not like bar ends, but would have been the right way to do it for me.

Embarking now on trying re-doing the bars/cables, I hope I can save the brand-new cushion tape. I think, but am unsure, that the cable housing won't be too short.

Interesting, but I am visualizing that limiting where you can place your hands when riding?

Based on previous criticisms of my "generous" cable loops on previous bikes, I actually set this one up rather shorter.

What do you recommend? I do happen to a have a new set of Dia-Compe / Gran Compe hoods handy, but black. The Cane Creek hoods look fine to me -- but I'm listening...

If I can get results like that and it works, I guess I would be happy.

A Google search for Weinmann hoods results in three choices: (a) Cane Creek, (b) Did-Compe and (c) Used or NOS Weinmann ones (40-year-old gum rubber?) The bike's owner is on a camping trip, I'll send him photos of both and let him decide. And -- you can soak hoods in hot water to make them pliable to install; getting them back off, not practical to do that. I see what might be the beginning of seam splits on the Cane Creek hoods after only one removal. Sheesh! And, of course, Rustines is now in a parallel universe.

But, I got the cables/bar-tape/whatever re-done; photo to follow, probably to wind up my topic on the Falcon project anyway. Shifts fine, I think. Zip tie no longer needed, it's gone. Uh, going from riding on the hoods to the ramps to the tops, your hands can contact that additional cabling... one gets used to that?

​​​​​​Ah, I assumed it was yours... In that case, give him the Cane Creeks.

Unless you'll be riding with him... Then I'd suggest something else, so you don't have to see them ... ever.

This is one of the three bikes I am rehabbing for childhood friends so we can have a 50th Anniversary ride celebrating 1974, when we turned 18 (separate topics for each of those). In this case, after that ride, the friend will be taking it back to Minneapolis, so I won't be seeing it often.

My UO-8 with barcon cables routed between the rack and the cylindrical Bellwether front bag.

Hard to see, but cables routed to just past the start of the upbend bars, as others have reported, as well. Miine works beautifully with 2x6 gearing, non-indexed SunTour ratchet barcons, Shimano Titlist front derailleur, and SunTour Cyclone rear derailleur. When I worked at Bikecology, we set up a customer with a 3x5 (54-50-47/14-18-22-28-34), 1/3-step triple up front, SunTour VGT rear, SunTour Spirt (normal high) front, and then-new SunTour barcons.

On my Whitcomb I taped the housing to the bars and exited the wrap up near the stem.






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I used a ring off a key chain. Seems to work.

Hmm; I wonder if the old TA cable guide that mounted on the stem could be repurposed by mounting it to the front brake? (speaking of unobtainium...)

I got my first barcons from a recent parts bike purchase. I never was too interested in them as the cable routing looked busy. I had the bars wrapped already with cloth tape and wasn’t sure if I would even like or keep the barcons. So first I taped them in place with electrical tape over the cloth tape to try out. Later, being lazy, I wrapped them in twine just up to the first bend and getting the right angle out front to have them under a Cannondale handlebar bag. I decided to leave it like this for now. The twine wrap on the drops isn’t really uncomfortable on the little time I am down on them. i might just leave things like this.

The keyring is brilliant!

The TA cable holder would be not to hard to fab, a hacksaw, drill, file, grommets, copious elbow grease and Bob's yer uncle.

The traditional routing is all the way to the top of the bar wrap. All the racing men who used BES had them wrapped that way, not just Rik van Looy.

Charlie Gaul:


Coppi and Koblet:


Ocaņa on his titanium bike... used DT shifters, but José Fuente (the KAS dude next to him) knew how to tape a BES cable.


Me, I like a handlebar bag, so taping all the way up is the only way that plays nice. I do most often crisscross, in front of the HT and again under the DT, but I'm not dogmatic about that. Whatever works best.

I don't have any shifting or handling problems from that routing but YMMV, some people report extra friction. I tend to use '60s or earlier derailers and original unlined housing, so you might be wise to ignore anything I say — clearly, I have extremely low standards. I only need it to work about as well as the bikes that repeatedly were used to win the TdF and all those great races of the '50s through the '70s. I'll "settle" for that.

The only racer pic I was able to find taped differently was Laurence Malone, the great American cyclocrosser.

He's also the only guy (AFAIK) who bunny-hopped the barricades, which are intended to make you get off and run over them. So I'll forgive him for running his shifter cables wrong (and his brake cables too long).

Yeah but those guys were all Europeans riding inferior gears, not a true barcon in sight...the Japanese set us straight.

So, I am looking at the bike this AM; the criss-cross would, I'd think, require the cable routing go under the BB shell, and lots of bikes do. On this one, I have a clamp-on Campy housing stop where the DT shifters would have gone, and a clamp-on Campy guide at the lower end of the DT. The cables are parallel with the centerline of the DT all the way down -- I do not think Cris-cross would work in this application.

Regardless. bike about ready for a test ride and I'll see how the bar-cons fare.

Thanks, all, for the input!

The most recent barcon wrap I did was shellaced, and to prevent the wrap from gluing to the cable housing I put a bit housing inside a bit of plastic tubing before wrapping; afterwards that (sacrificial) bit of housing came out, and the new housing slid in.
The tubing was what bits of music wire came in, some sort of clear thermoplastic, PET maybe?

Yep I'm pretty sure that's true. Crossing only works for under-BB routing.

I bet if you shortened up the cable casing loops, you would be much happier with the look - might even function better too.
Looks like your rear brake cable is looping off into the stratosphere as well, but even the front brake casing could be shorter.

Thanks. I checked, in this case, "stratospheric" is 6-1/2" above the handlebars.

Unless you plan on changing your stem to a much longer or taller one, that's well over 3" of unnecessary housing leading to the "inelegant" look you're trying to avoid.

​​​​​​Now if it's a touring bike, and you plan to dry your wet socks on the brake housing, maybe taller is better.

You're welcome! Into the ironic-sphere!
I remember maybe md-70's when big loop cables "made the brakes work better" but that was before lined casings.
There's a lot to be said for building a bike with a contemporary look.
I also remember having my seat tipped with the rear about 2" above the nose because it let us "push back" on it during sprints.
I still see that on CL bikes occasionally.
4" of rise on the casing above the bars seems to work for me now.