what: how do you route non-aero cable to the front side-pull when the entry point on the caliper is on the left side of the brake?

long version: i like to route non-aero cable behind the bars and crossing the stem exactly like this picture of my club fuji.



i write "like to," but i'm compelled to do it this way. i'm not comfortable with the cable in front of the bars nor kept on only one side of the stem, flopping around on its own with no obstacle to keep it perfectly in line. it looks exact to me, and the cable doesn't need to re-cross in front of the head badge. it's a kind of simple beauty.

but as i'm putting the final touches on two low-end bikes (a fuji mixte and schwinn world), the calipers' cable entry is on the left side (opposite of the pic above and all my own bikes), preventing this perfect line from left lever to front caliper. to make matters worse, the mixte's brazed cable guides for the rear are on the drive side top tube.

the problem is easily solved by simply switching the routing of the levers. and for the first of these two builds, i went ahead and routed the cable this way. the right lever now operates the front brake, and vice versa. i called the girl to whom the bike belongs and kind of talked her into doing it this way. i told her it's all the rage in more advanced european countries. and she only has this one bike, so it's probably not a big deal. it looks great, i must say, but some will say i completely goofed. (i'll post pics of the finished mixte when i get the paselas in the mail in a day or two.)

but i still need to route the cable for the schwinn (with side-pulls that share this delicate issue), and then attempt to sell the schwinn on craigslist.

questions:
1. you think it's ok to route the right lever to the front brake because i'm anal about aesthetics alone?
2. should i follow my gut and do the same for the schwinn, or would this be a problem in selling the bike?
3. how do you do it?
4. why is the cable entry on the 'wrong' side on these side-pulls? is this a low-end issue or ..?

If your selling the bike I would just route behind the bars on the right side direct basic and simple not as elegant but this is how the cable routing came on most of these stock. While it is the way you would prefer switching the brakes europen style just wouldn't make sense on a bike your going to sell on CL. The issue of having both right side/ essential left in front and right on back is pretty common on a lot of brakes both low and high brakes it allows makers to use basically the same brake on front and back making them cheaper and somewhat interchanchangeable.

The routing in the pic looks pretty good except, you might consider running the rear brake cable in front for the front brake cable as they cross. but keep both behind the bar as shown on the pic I like that routing as the front cable has a clear, undisturbed run and arc from the left lever to the front brake caliper. The rear cable would want to be forward of it as it wants to lay against the bar on the left side of the stem. Only time you might consider different style of routing if you might have a very very short extension on your stem. I have been running my cables as I had described since the 80's and it has worked very well on all my bikes.

"...why is the cable entry on the 'wrong' side on these side-pulls? is this a low-end issue or ..?"


The very old European norm was for the rear brake lever to be on the left, so older designs descending from and/or licensed from old Weinmann calipers have the cable entry sides reversed.

My 1952 E. Christophe (French) road bike has unrelated LAM calipers that are backwards just like old Weinmann calipers.

Dia-Compe's early designs were licensed from Weinmann.

I have wondered why Shimano's first "600" sidepull calipers were made this way, even as their earlier Dura-Ace calipers were normal.
I guess it was because Shimano was copying Campagnolo for their pro parts, then copied DiaCompe for their mid-price gruppo.

Routing that goes from left lever to the front caliper makes a lot of sense to me as it makes for the most most gradual, smoothest of arcs by the brake cable from lever to caliper which translates to the smoothest cable action. Routing it from the right lever results in a tighter arc. The difference won't be that much, but why not get the best action from your brakes as you can?

Here's how I did it. It would probably drive some folks nuts but it doesn't bother me at all.

i think you're saying keep it original: from left lever over the bar, not crossing the stem, direct and down to the left side of the caliper. right?

i appreciate the advice. is this the consensus here? do shoppers care more about "left is front," rather than aesthetics of perfectly crossing cables over the stem?

the reason i place the front cable ahead of the rear (as they cross the stem behind the bar) is to allow the rear cable, which is less flimsy at this point, to keep the front cable in place. it works.

i agree ... if the caliper accepts cable on its right side. your explanation is the reason for the routing in the pic and the same routing for the mixte, though it is a mirror image of the pic due to the caliper's left cable entry.

so given this theory of "smoothest action," are you a fan of routing right lever to front caliper when cable entry is on the caliper's left?

thanks, cobrabyte! yours is like the middle ground solution: use the left lever, enough length to cross the stem (either behind or in front of the bars), but then go back across the head badge to enter the left side of the caliper.

i'm curious how people would poll if asked their preference for these left-side side-pulls. i assume most would prefer the front be routed to the left lever, with aesthics being secondary (not the way i did it).?.

eschlwc, When using the left lever for front braking the left entry calipers the cable routing will just look awkward, even with aero levers. Just something to put up with unless one switches the lever's assignment, which I for one wouldn't. I wonder how many people actually notice?

Brad

I have to do this on most of my bikes as I'm a right/front guy. It's not really an issue.

That has to be the best-looking "backwards cabled" setup I've yet seen, as good as it gets.
Pretty new-looking bike as well.

Now I'm wondering how much frame size affects this. Is it the front brake cable that you have routed in front(?) of the rear brake's cable?

I also am suddenly wondering if some of the 600 Arabesque brake's squishy feel can perhaps be attributed to the tighter bend in the cable, something that always bugged me about that seemingly very lightweight gruppo.

As long as it works! If it were my bike, I would still route the cable behind the bars, but wouldn't bother crossing the stem -- that seems to add more cable length and bend than necessary.

Yes, in the end it's what ever works best for the particular ride and bike, but it's always good to start with a sort of baseline configuration that might have been working for many riders in the past and work from there.
Heck, even the configuration I decided to stay with after many years of riding is still not perfect......Only thing I can't seem to solve is how to keep the rear brake cable that lays against the back of the bar, left of my stems, from rattling against the bar when I go over bumpy roads. I actually developed a habit of hooking the cable in my left thumb and pressing it against the back of the handlebar on really bumpy roads to keep the cable from rattling against the bar....but no way I'm going to route my brake cables in front of the bar and have it shoot out forward too much.....

Form should follow function. I prefer left/front too as that is the way its always been for me from my youth. I don't like the left/front logic as I am right handed and motorcycles are right/front. In addition, I have more motor control of my right hand then my left.
https://davesbikeblog.squarespace.com...the-right.html

i usualy agree. but it can also be said that beauty trumps convention.

i assume you meant, "i prefer right/front too" like the dave's blog link you posted?

dddd will appreciate this bit from that blog entry:

"From the 1930s through the 1950s the most popular side-pull brake was the Swiss made Weinmann 500; the caliper arms were opposite to most current side-pulls today... Campagnolo did not come out with a brake set until 1971; when they did, it was opposite to the Weinmann and most other side-pulls of that era. It had the front brake caliper arms on the right. Campagnolo quickly became the brake of choice ... and ... other side-pull manufactures copied the Campagnolo style."

On a sale bike I would route it from the left lever and not worry about it. I agree about the aesthetics but I doubt most buyers would even notice. Certainly I don't think you'll lose a sale over it.

For me it comes down to two things:

I don't ride a motorcycle, I suppose if I did I might consider setting up my pedal bikes the same way because consistancy.

I like my brake levers to match my shifters: if the left shifter goes to the front derailleur, I want the left brake lever to go to the front brake because consistancy.

Thanks dddd. No, the left front brake cable is not crossing the rear. There was enough cable tension that it stayed put without needing to do that.

BTW I hated the feel of the brakes on my Shimano 600 Arabesque equipped bike. Same complaint, they did feel "squishy". I blame the calipers, not the bend of the cable.

ESCHLWC: Yes i did mean that.

As a wall hanger, I would reverse the cable routing.

Since my Trek has center pulls, it's not an issue!

COBRABYTE: Hmm...never thought of it that way! I shift using my right hand for either DT lever with few exceptions so never thought of levers being in symetrical in that way. Maybe, because even though the FD is the front most it is still under or behind me. Can't see it without taking my eyes off the road. There is a lot that is not symetrical, both QR levers are on the left side (although brake cables are routed the opposite front to back at the caliper, the drive train is on the left (not much choice there!), bb has fixed on the right and adjustment on the left and some cable routing is offset on TT's.


As simple as a bicycle is, we find ways to consider the n'th degree detail!

But of course! It's all in the details.

Here's a picture of Fausto Coppi and he doesn't cross his cable his right hand operates the front brake