Campag shifters: which is the best gear cable routing to use?

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wilwil
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Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 5:47 pm

by wilwil

I have always used the route that takes the cable across and under. Recently I was checking over a friends new build and the cables had been routed round the outside. The gears seemed to work okay on the stand. Does the routing make any difference to performance?

c60rider
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Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2017 11:12 pm

by c60rider

wilwil wrote:
Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:16 pm
I have always used the route that takes the cable across and under. Recently I was checking over a friends new build and the cables had been routed round the outside. The gears seemed to work okay on the stand. Does the routing make any difference to performance?
I'm guessing you mean as the cables leave the ergolevers whether you decide to go across the front of the bars and route them alongside the brake cables or to loop them around the rear of the bars? If my bars have a groove on the rear as well as the front (Deda Newtons) then I'll loop the gears around the rear and the brake round the front. It still feels a bit hard on the bars where the gear cables are but then I double wrap them. If I didn't have a groove on the rear of the bars then I'd route them with the brake cables around the front. A couple of other bikes have carbon Deda's so all the cables route internally through the bars. I've seen no difference in performance so I'd just route them whichever way you prefer the look and more importantly the feel of the bars when you're riding.

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Calnago
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by Calnago

@wilwil: The way you have yours done, crossed over and joining the routing of the brake housing is by far the better route in my opinion. You can route it straight back if you want, and for a good while you may not notice a difference in performance. However, the cable will ultimately start to fray in that routing, similar to the way the Shimano cables fray due to the 90 degree bend they have to make. You will start to notice bad shifting, or get a frayed cable end come through the rubber lever hoods and into the palm of your hand. This happened to me and since then I have never used that routing again, except where there was absolutely no choice (some internally routed bars require it and are a pain in the ass). I also don't like the visible protrusion of the cable housing under the tape as it wraps around. If you purchase a new set of Campy mech ergo levers they will have the cables already routed through the more relaxed route... that's the one you should try to use whenever possible.
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