I noticed that some riders (Macca is one) use their bar end shifters the “wrong way” around. In other words instead of the gear cable routing exiting at the forward facing side of the bike they are positioned towards the rider. Lance uses it in the conventional way. I noticed that Craig Walton also uses this technique.
My second question relates to gear cable routing on bars like the CarbonX and HED bars. Do some riders get them drilled at the top to route the cables through the hollow tubes to the rear. It looks like Macca has done something of this sort or maybe with the bar end shifters leaving the gear cables towards him it is routed and taped on the inside of the external handles towards the rear. Does this make sense??
The direction of the shifters is just a personal preference thing. I’ve tried pointing them both ways and find it more comfortable if they point away from me.
Most bars come pre-drilled so you can route the cable through them. But you can also simply tape the cable housing to the outside of the bar and sometimes you will get better shifting/braking performance. So long as you tape the housing tight to the bars, I’m not sure it makes a difference from an aerodynamic standpoint.
I think what you are saying is that the cable going on the bottom of the bar rather than the top. There really isn’t a “wrong” way to route the cables and position the barcon. The cable exiting the “bottom” of the bar (or toward the front of the bike) has the rider pulling the barcon up to upshift on the right hand lever, the cable exiting the “top” (or “backwards” or “toward the rider”) has the shifter going downwards to shift is a matter of personal preference. Some mechanics don’t like the cable to bend in the degrees that a top mounted cable would (as the cable would follow the upper contours of the bar), as the conventional way would actually have the cable housing going straight to the cable stops. This is where I am really surprised that an aero cable housing has not been invented, as exposed cables can contribute to lots of drag. Why do you think that strut bars on airplanes have been tear-drop shaped? I could see the logistics on such an item would be difficult, and if someone else came up with the idea, I would even scoff. But it is food for thought…
As far as your question about drilling into the extension doing a “top mounted” shift cable exit from the barcon, I would say yes it is possible, and it would even relieve a bit of the bending that the cable would experience, though the more constricted your cable is, the harder it is to shift. I will say something else, as well: on bike frames that have the shift cables routing closer to the top of the headtube (very few frames are like this, please note), one would need to route the cable “backwards” (as you say).
One thing that kinda bugs me is that many of these super aero frames still have downtube-routed cabling for the rear mech. I can see that for the front mech, but it is unnecessary for the rear. I would prefer to see the rear mech cable housing exit at the seat tube, then have a cable stop on the seatstay and a stop near the dropout. The cable would go into the rear mech the same way as before. There would be less cable, and it would be a lot cleaner. Teschner aero frames do this, with a small amount also following this concept (my Fox, out of necessity, is another example). The only way I would improve my Fox is the if there were cable stops in the stay, then I would have better shifting; I do use a pulley to improve shifting.
My other gripe is the lack of barrel adjusters on both road and TT models for the cables, as the length of the cables do go slack after a few hundred shifts, but this is another issue for another thread. This is also easily remedied with the addition of an inline cable adjuster that is not very expensive.
After a bad crash and going over the handlebars I decided that I always want the shifters pointing away from me (forward) instead of toward me to act like a spear. A safety isssue for me.
Aloha,
Larry