Cervelo P3C cable routing. Anyone else have this problem?

Triathlon Forum
1

My P3 and P3C are set up with parts as sold by Cervelo; the P3C with vision tech handle bars.

There is a functional difference in the way the derailleur cables feed into the down tube. In the P3, the feral sits snuggly into the entrance hole of the down tube; it stays put. In the P3C, it is free to move about. Consequently, if the front wheel is turned past 30-40 degrees, the cable sleeve can end up at almost a right degree angle to the down tube. And if the feral pops out, which it does, it just stays there. This puts a sharp turn in the cable itself.

I have shortened the casing that runs between the aerobars and downtube, giving a slight improvement. In doing so, I realized that the cables of the P3C run under my handle bars while on the P3 they run over. The later arrangement provides considerably more freedom for rotation about the head tube. Does it make sense to try running the cables over the bars on the P3C as well?

When I look at the pictures of the P3C on the Cervelo web site it appears as though there might be a sleeve around the hole entering the down tube. There certainly is on the P3 and there definitely is not on my P3C. I just don’t see how this feed through will remain reasonably secure as long as the cable sleeve swings wide when the handle is turned.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Bill

2

We noticed the same issue when setting up my wife’s P3C. I found that shortening the cable housing helped some. Then, at the expo at IMC I visited with the folks at the Cervelo booth, and they showed me that they run the cables under the basebar, but inside of where the brake cables exit (this was on a Vison Tech base bar). That places them quite close to the stem/head tube. The angle of the loop in the cabe is then a bit more parallel to the head tube, rather than looping out to the side under the base bar. It tends to place the cable houseing in a better angle relative to the entrance hole/down tube. I hope this makes sense. Here’s a link to a picture of the new P2C… You can sort of see the way they’ve done it here. Good luck.

http://www.socalttseries.com/interbike-2005/target39.html

3

Thanks Fexy,
I have done just that, having noticed that I could pick up a slightly better line.

I am still wondering if going above the bars might not improve things even more because it removes strain from the cables. But I would have thought Cervelo would have tried this since it is the route used on the P3.
Bill