Best way to cable bar end shifters

[Fishbike]

I am installing my first set of bar end shifters. They are 7 speed. What is the best way to route the cables? Photos would be great!

[eddief]

something like this:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5135/5399612464_9c23fb699b.jpg

the second photo here shows the basics:

http://www.tamiasoutside.com/2008/08/24/barcons/

figure 8 here:

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/bar-end-shifter-service

[telewhacker!]

I generally bring them forward along the flat bottom of the handlebar until the bar starts to curve upward. At that moment I bring the cabels out from under the handlebar tape and arc them to the cable stops.

[witcombusa]

Here ya go...

[fatallightning]

I ran them the normal way, and found the cable exits annoying when riding the in the drops. I've had friends run the housing all the way up the bars and have them exit with the brake housing with no issues. Theoretically, yes, a tad more friction will be present because of the curve and extra housing, but it's a pretty large radius run.

[Kontact]

The spot where the cable exits the tape is kind of difficult. People often tape from the top (or hood) down so the tape wraps the cable in a more natural way, then electrical tape at the bar end.

Another thing to try when taping from the ends up is to use a small piece of filler tape, like at the hood, to fill in the gap caused by wrapping the tape past the cable exit.

To speak to fatallightening's point, there isn't a set exit point for the cable. You can have it exit well away from the area of the drops that you put your hands. And if the tape is thin enough, you can just have the cable come straight out of the shifter and not run it under any tape. You just have to make sure you have knee clearance for climbing when you do that.

[Ralph]

On my last ones....routed them the traditional way pictured above. If doing now, with modern flexible housing, would route hem along the bars like a modern system. May have to use a tamdem wire for RD.

BTW.....recently set one up this way. NOS Suntour bar Ends. Hid the housing, and used a reverse action (Rapid Rise) Shimano XTR RD which I think is superior to a regular action RD for bar ends. You pull on the lever to go from bigger to smaller rear gears, not smaller to bigger. With RD cable slack, chain is on big cog. If you haven't set one up this way, think about it.

[spiderman]

And to be honest...bar end convention
Has always bothered me.
So, as I have been playing around
With my terraplane set up
I installed the right bar end
Upside down...which I like better
And ran the cable under tape
That I started at the shifter
And up to the last wrap of tape
On the top...
Feels cleaner
Is very functional
And may be a keeper... I figure
If I want to change it back to a more
Conventional set up
I can always do that.
I laid it down that way
Primarily because of the way I like it felt and
Shifted in my hand...
And when I put the housing to the bar
It naturally looped around that way
Like that's where it wanted to go!

[Kontact]

Spiderman,

You rest your palm directly on top of the housing when in the drops?

[spiderman]

That way the motion to shift for more power
Is just squeezing my hand
...To shift easy is to press gently down.
No real reaching for the lever

[Kontact]

That way the motion to shift for more power
Is just squeezing my hand
...To shift easy is to press gently down.
No real reaching for the lever
Okay... Do you ride in the drops at all? It looks like you'd be resting your palms on a rather sharp bit of cable housing.

[spiderman]

The shifter is just added on to the end...
I ride quite a bit there...just move slightly to shift
Everything handlebra covers is soft
And easy on the hands!

[Peter P.]

Here's a side view of my handlebars:

http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4011/4548017822_46caba7bdc.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53479013@N00/4548017822/)
Curve 1 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/53479013@N00/4548017822/) by Peter Polack (http://www.flickr.com/people/53479013@N00/), on Flickr

I've come to the conclusion that where the cable exits the handlebar tape is a very personal choice and you'll only find what works through experimentation.

I don't like the idea of it exiting low, on the flats of the bars because it seems like the cables would flap a lot and they might hit my front brake mounted headlamp.

If they exit right at the bottom of the brake hood, they drive my thumbs nuts, that's why you see them exiting one wrap lower.

It might be interesting to wrap them all the way to the stem, cable length be damned, and have a nice, graceful loop to the cable stop. Probably wouldn't affect shifting at all.

[veloduffer]

I had mine wrapped all the way to the stem. It shifts fine (10-spd) and really clean look:

http://racerx.zenfolio.com/img/s5/v4/p628321139-4.jpg