I have mine run bare from my tririg basebar down to my omega brake. I had housing all the way before and I dont recall any difference, though its generally safe to assume that LESS housing has less flex in the system; so a bare cable should perform better (i.e., with less flex).

Assuming they are both installed properly, there is no measurable performance difference. It can sometimes be tricky to route everything optimally inside a bar, because it’s more sensitive to the exact housing length. So for that reason, some folks who try the “bare cable”route encounter problems, but it’s generally fine.

Aesthetically of course bare cable tends to look nicer. But, if you’re behind a cover like our own Delta, then it doesn’t make any aesthetic difference. In those cases we generally recommend full housing, due to the slightly easier installation.

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TriRig.com

This. Full housing is much easier.


But bare cable is waaaaaaaaay better looking, completely worth the hassle.

I don't think there's any performance detriment in running bare cable so long as it's set up well.


If you run a bare cable, you have to make some pretty hard turns to set the cable running straight down to the brake. If you run housing the entire way you can round out those turns slightly more, because the housed cable can enter the hole in the basebar at an easier angle. I just set up a bare cable from an alpha x to the omega brake. It works fine but I had to get a metal brake noodle to make it work, the normal housing kinked and prevented the cable from pulling/releasing smoothly.

That said, having set it up, it works just as well as any other set up, certainly as well as my other brakes that run housing all the way to the brake. I am far from a pro mechanic, so my challenges should not be taken as anything other than my own. The tension on the omega is pretty good, so it shouldn't stick as easily as some brakes do when the cable is bent too tight.

There are two answers to your questions I guess...

THEORY
In theory full housing is the correct technical choice. When you stop the housing at the top of the head tube (either in the stem or with a cable stop) you might encounter brake/front-wheel shudder which was a very important topic in cyclo-cross back in the cantilever brakes days.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/YvAMo.png

If you are braking and the distance from the cable stop (in that case in the stem) and the cable attachment reduces (imagine pulling the stem down or the top of the steerer forward) or if the braking force pulls your fork back and thus increases cable tension then you are in an unstable situation.

In Cyclocross it was solved by moving the cable housing stop under the head tube : https://i.stack.imgur.com/dR4YY.jpg[/url]

PRACTICE
I’ve ran a Tririg Alpha One both ways and haven’t encoutered a situation with a weird endeavour, maybe I’ve not been in a situation front braking hard enough in a bumpy downhill for the theory to become an actual issue, maybe I’m not heavy enough, maybe everything is stiff enough on my TT bike with no spacer under the Alpha One stem for this to be an issue. So probably a bit of everything playing in my favor.

So I don’t think saying it’s the same is actually true, saying full housing is actually more sound mechanically but for most you should be fine with bare cable is probably more correct. And if you decide to run bare cable and find there is an issue it’s an easy « fix » ;-)