I'm thinking of setting up some Campagnolo Ergo shifters on a bike and was wondering if I can run both the cables in the front of an ungrooved handlebar?
Will it be too bulky and uncomfortable? Should I track down some double grooved bars instead?
In general, do people route both cables in front or front and back?
To me it always seemed like it might be rough on the hands to have a cable running on the back of the bars.

Thoughts or suggestions anyone?

I usually run aero brake cables (ergos should work the same) on the bottom of the bar.

I don't know about the early generations, but the current generations give you the ability to run the shifter cable either in front of, or behind the bar. I ran them behind on mine and it works fine. In essence it gives a little more "platform" for your hands, but not enough to really matter. If anything, set the cables up how you want them, take a short ride before you tape, and if you like it, keep it that way. If not, change it. Some people prefer to run the cables around the front. I probably will next time around.
-Gene-

I have campy Ergos on my Cinelli mod. 66 bars (no grooves). I run one cable along the front and one along the back. I like the feel of the "fatter" bar.

I run mine front and back and don't find any issues with an ungrooved bar for the back. YMMV. I find the bigger issue to be the bar shape. Many, including me, prefer ergo bend bars for STI and Ergo brifter bikes. Some don't. Modern ergo bars generally are grooved, whereas the older style bars may or may not be.

Do those ergo bend bars put your wrists at a better angle to use the shifters? I was going to use my old double groove Cinelli bars but maybe I'll take a look at the ergo bars.

Same here. My bars look like they've been infested by an Alien, but they feel fine. I like'em.

I do the same on Nitto Mod. 176 "Noodle" bars (no grooves) on two bikes. They look fine, work great. Personally, I do not like ergo-bars at all - I think they feel wrong and look worse, but bar feel, like how a saddle feels, is very much a personal taste thing.

I say start with bars that you like and go ahead and use Campy Ergo brifters on 'em. As with most things dealing with the contact points, comfort uber alles.

Cool. Thanks for the input everyone!

If you overlook the tape wrapping job some ham-fisted butcher did on said bars, I agree.

I think that's the biggest challenge with this sort of thing. Even if the cables are taped down super tight before wrapping, the little dimples and wrinkles are unavoidable, ham-fisted or no. You just have to make the call on what's going to look worse: an imperfect tape job or a less-than-graceful bar shape. A lot of it will depend on the bike and how the rest of it is built. I myself have never been able to take full advantage of ergo bars as I ride top, hoods and ends mostly. One thing I do like, at least on the Profile Design ergo bars that I use on the modernized Gran Corsa, is the wider, flatter spot at the bend. It adds one more position, call it the corners, and I find myself riding there a lot. It's a nice compromise between top and hoods.

This is what I'm doing on my Mondonico, with Noodle bars.

I found a problem with Ritchey Biomax II anatomic bars. These have a very flat ramp that mates perfectly with the hood tops of both Ergos and Brifters. The curve down to the anatomic region is extremely sharp, and the anatomic grip area is bent very far from vertical. What this means is that teh distance from the grip to the brake and shift levers is quite large, and I have small hands. It also gave me a problem reaching the shift return key with my thumb. Nitto Noodles helped a lot because the smooth, old-school large bar curvature kept the bar a lot closer to the brake levers. I could reach the levers while in the drops. It also had nice big flat hooks and upper ramps to rest on, for high-speed on-road napping.

Seriously, that aggressively anatomic bar was just not right for me. A different ergo bar with more vertical anatomic grip areas would have been a lot better, but possibly too deep a drop for me.

I'm running a setup exactly like that, with no issues at all. In fact, I try to route the cables front and back, near the top, to give me a "flatter" top bar. I ride the drops most of the time, but if I'm resting or eating/drinking, I kind of like the "flat top."

Also, on the Cinellis, which I prefer, it's pretty hard to find double-grooved bars, in my size, when I need them.