Do these cables look right to you?

[BigonaBianchi]

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I have just had the bike back from the LBS and noticed the cables they fitted cross over under the tube as in the picture. I have been riding this bike for two years and never seen cables crossed like this.

I spoke to the bike shop and they say every road bike they have in the shop has crossed cables like this.

Im happy to admit im no expert and am probably wrong to be surprised like this , but as I haven't seen them set like this before I have to ask.

so...is this normal
is this safe?

if it is normal and safe, why do it when the cables could go down the other sides of the head tube and run under the down tube without crossing and still have the front cogs shift on th eleft hand and the rear cogs on the right hand?

maybe i'm missing something....I'm sure there must be a reason?????????

 

[ianrauk]

It's normal on some bikes.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

It's normal on some bikes.

ok ta.

why though? surely its a friction point for no reason?

 

[ianrauk]

Have no idea.
A Specialized I had had the same.

 

[ianrauk]

@RecordAceFromNew may be able to answer.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Just looked at my bike (which has internal cable routing) and the left hand cable stays on the LHS of the head tube, and the right's on the right. I can't see why you can't do the same

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I just found this on Sheldon browns site:

"Criss-Cross" Cables

Most bicycles with handlebar-mounted shifters run the rear cable on the right, the front on the left. This causes some awkwardness in routing the length of housing from the shift lever to the frame stops. Due to the need to allow these housings to be long enough to permit the bars to be turned all the way back and forth, the housings often wind up making a reverse bend--for instance, the rear will go from the shifter, which is on the right, swing forward and cross over past the centerline of the bicycle, then back over to the right side of the top tube, before heading down the down tube. These extra bends increase friction, and the fairly forcible contact between the housing and the side of the top tube can damage the finish.
A neat solution to this is to run the cables "criss-cross" style: The rear runs from the lever, (on the right) around the top tube, and to the cable stop on the left side of the downtube! The front cable crosses over similarly from the left side of the handlebar to the right side of the down tube.
The bare cables then cross one another under the middle of the downtube, making an "X". The cables may touch where they cross, but they will do so very lightly, since they are both straight...the tiny bit of friction at this crossing is more than offset by the reduction in friction in the smoother-flowing cable housings.
This technique does not work with over-the-bottom-bracket cable routing, but is doable with most newer bikes that have under-the-bottom-bracket cable routing and cable stops mounted toward the bottom side of the down tube.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

....see now im wondering why the rear mech cant be operated from the left shifter and the front mech from the right shifter? Wouldn't that make more sense?

...I bow to wiser men than me on this..somebody must know what they are doing...I guess that's why I pay the LBS

 

[gavintc]

....see now im wondering why the rear mech cant be operated from the left shifter and the front mech from the right shifter? Wouldn't that make more sense?

You could do the same thing on your car. Brake on the right, accelarator on the left; but having some form of commonality does make more sense.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

@RecordAceFromNew may be able to answer.

The reason is to maximize the curve (or minimize the kink, if you will) of the gear cables coming out of the bars. The rear gear cable comes out from the right at the bars but has to arrive the right rear stay, e.g., so the smoothest run is to arrive at the left cable stop at and crossover to the right under the downtube.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

thanks...

looking at my frame I can see marks on the frame where the cable housing ran against it. Well well well...learn something new each day....when I had the bike from evans it was wired without crossing and I just assumed that was the correct way ...so it would seem all this time it was wired wrong...oh well no harm done...and now I know....does look odd though

 

[TheDoctor]

It can be wired either way. If the outers cross up near the bars, then the inners have to cross back, as it were. I personally don't route the cables that way, but there's no reason not to (and a few reasons to, it would seem).

 

[SpokeyDokey]

'Tis ok - they work - leave them like that. The cable outers have nice smooth curves as a result and that's a plus.

 

[snorri]

The bigger worry for me would be the bicycle positioning which is so obviously upsetting the smooth running of the kitchen

 

[GrasB]

As others said, that's fine. It's the I was taught to lace cables buy a guy who wrenched for a pro team. That said he've not laced them that 'lose'.