La Vie Velominatus: Cable Obsession

Cable organization perfection: resistance is futile.

I’m fluent in three languages: Dutch, English, and Hyperbole. The third is an acquired talent developed by creative and narcissistic tendencies; the narcissism feeds a belief that normal words can’t properly describe the magnitude of my experiences, and the creativity struggles to cope with restrictive paradigms like “facts” and “reality”. I have also been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder which, when taken with everything else, suggests that my darling partner exhibits some questionable judgement.

I have a visceral response to clutter; when I see things out of order, my insides turn about themselves and cause me physical discomfort. If the clutter escalates to becoming a “mess”, my mood changes and I become irritable. This applies to everything from our house, my workshop, my office, desk space, my computer desktop, my briefcase, and my bicycles’ cable organization. I don’t have to tell you that the last one is the only one that really matters.

The tidiness of the cables on a bicycle are one of several key factors that elevate the Velominatus above the Common Cyclist. The old style of STI shifters and their protruding cables were barbaric; they represented a principle reason for my dislike of Shimano’s system. Campagnolo took a few extra years to produce the Ergo shifters, and I am quite convinced they spent that extra time sorting out how to internally route the cables.

The organization of a rider’s cables and the length to which they are trimmed is a critical detail to which we must all pay close attention. No matter how beautiful the bike, disheveled cables will always bring it down. I hereby give you the V Principles of Cable Routing:

It is of paramount importance that the housing exit the bar tape at precisely opposite points on the bars. This extends beyond the cables taken in aggregate, and applies to both the brake and shift housing meaning that if they are routed together, the brake cable must always be below the shift cable, and if they are route front/back on the bars, they must both be routed in the same fashion.
The housing must be organized such that they mimic and mirror each other’s curves to the maximum capability of the frame and application. This is to say that housing intersections and contact points must be minimized and under no circumstances may a shift-brake cable pair be split by another cable running from its mirrored set.
Cable housing must be cut to the shortest length possible while still allowing full movement of the handlebars. It must, however, be cut long enough to allow that the cables run in a smooth curve at all points, minimizing friction. The shift cables should be cut such that they overlap only slightly; the ideal is that they just kiss each other at the apex of their arch to the frame.
Inner cables must be cut to a length not exceeding 2cm. The ideal length is 1.5 times the length of the cable end.
Cable ends will always be crimped using a crimping tool. Extra points awarded for a diagonal double-crimp. Under no circumstances are frayed cables to be tolerated.

Go with Merckx, and do not violate these principles. Vive la Vie Velominatus.

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frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

brett says:

Sep 25 2013 at 5:29 am

@16ozCoffee

@brett almost all of the Japanese owned bicycles I work on have the front brake on the right brifter. while I generally adhere to the rule of 'front brake, front derailleur, left brifter', Japanese mechanics customarily have the brakes set up the same as motorbikes, and as such, I've noticed most motorcycle enthusiasts who also are bicyclists have the same brake setup.

I also agree with you on the front brake cable issue it seems several people are pissing over. The reason I run the front brake cable in front of all the other cables is that when the bars are turned, the front cable is pulled on by one of the shift cables, or a shift cable and rear brake cable, if the front brake cable is run behind the others. In order to 'fix' these issues, many lazy mechanics and even more home mechanics run extra long cabling. A longer stem exacerbates the cable pull issues, unless again, it is 'fixed' with extra long cabling. Looking at the cabling jobs people are posting up as proof that the front shift cable should be run behind shows the extra lengths of shift and rear brake cable needed to prevent the front from being pulled. However, if the cable routing to the brifters is the same as the Japanese/Motorcyclist setup, this becomes a moot point as shown in the above picture of the Colnago.

This.

Yes, I run my front brake on the RH lever ('moto' style, and I have a moto background), and it's definitely the most common way down here in NZ and Australia; all bikes are sold set up like that.
Rom says:

Sep 25 2013 at 5:41 am

Right lever, right brake.

excuse the scan quality, circa 1982
Ron says:

Sep 25 2013 at 5:48 am

@frank

@Ron

Also, was going to use a Jagwire Racer Pro cable kit. Anyone using Yokozuna or Nokon cables on their cross bike? (this is the gravel bike, I think, Frank?). A few friends said stainless cables and a decent kit on the cross bike is the way to go, the price of the sealed kits not being worth is on cross bikes when recabling so frequently.

I'm using Yokozuna on mine. There is no difference between a Graveur and a CX bike in this case, its just down to tire choice and position. This same bike will be used to race cross after I get back from doing the Heck of the North this weekend.

And, have heard some say sealed is the way to go on RD cables on a cross bike. My cable stops won't permit this unless I bore them out, something I don't want to do. I thought I might use a piece of internal routing housing on the TT between the stops and on the right seatstay where the cable is exposed. A good idea or unnecessary/it'll trap mud and grit?

I would stay away from sealed; I've heard they add a lot of friction, and that's something you want to reduce as much as possible - especially with SRAM. Switching to Yokos significantly improved shifting performance.

Got it, Frank. I use my cx bike for racing, lots of cx training, and some winter road riding (with road wheels). I keep it clean and lubed but I do wonder if the upside of the Yokozuna shifting improvement is worth the price uptick. It is if the cables shift much better and last longer, but if you recable every six months, as some do on their cx bikes, I do wonder. Then again, I'm well past a year on my current regular ol' Sram cables. I can kinda see Yokozunas being worth it on a road bike where they don't see the muck and mud and last longer, but I wonder on a cx bike.

Okay, no sealed of any kind. Friction is the enemy.

Nate - cool. Can't wait to grind down the housing with the new tool.

Cable routing. Hmm, with all the different brake, lever, bar setups, then the possibility of cable stops on the HT it really doesn't seem like there can be a set rule on routing. Depending on the bike and the gear, seems like you need to install and evaluate and then go with the best option.

Cable donuts and housing sleeves, in a right world someone in your neighborhood would buy the 1,000,000 pack (multi-colored, of course) plus end crimps and give them away like candy on Halloween. Hmm, maybe I should screw the local kids and put the candy money towards this service next month...
Fausto says:

Sep 25 2013 at 6:10 am

@frank

@Fausto

However, where I think there is a worrying trend with people thinking that running your brakes front-left is somehow correct. It isn't. My Ducati has it's front brake on the right, running the front brake on the left on my other bikes would result in an unpleasant accident on one or the other. I don't fancy taking my chances, especially with a muscle memory that can't even cope with SRAM Double Tap shifters. Added to that my Look has the entry for the rear brake cable on the right hand side of the top tube, rendering it impossible to route the cable tidily from the right hand side whilst retaining the ability to turn left without ripping the cable out. If Look have designed it to be like this, it simply must be correct. No further correspondence will be entered into.

While we're at it, shall we move the rear brake to the foot peg and put a clutch in the right lever? You may have stumble upon Velominati by accident while you were looking for BRMC.

The clutch would go on the left, but hey, run your unnecessary / fictitious controls where you want. In the mean time, front-right rear-left will work just fine; the comment above about the rear brake being in your left hand whilst dismounting your CX bike merely adds weight to the argument.

Actually I was looking for this lot: http://armyofdarkness.com (damn the link button not working on iDevices)

I'll leave it to you to discuss cable routing options with Look. (Resists temptation to insert emoticon)
Ron says:

Sep 25 2013 at 6:57 am

And while we're at it, keep the HOT head tube shots coming. I love seeing all the nice bikes and nice set-ups y'all got goin' on out there. Fack, I see so many shite bikes in person, I wish more of you live closer to me. But, I guess the population density of Followers has to remain low, or else...

I also do wonder if there ever can be a steadfast Rule on routing, length, etc. So many different set-ups that even on my own bikes, I have to install and see how things look/work, then adjust as needed. Throw in many more frames and gear, things only grow more complex.
frank says:

Sep 25 2013 at 6:57 am

@brett

So, your concluding sentence "do not violate these principles" (and therefore the whole article) is moot then?

None of the principles talk about putting the brake cable in front or behind - that's something you invented into the discussion on your own, git.

Life must be difficult for you, having such a tiny brain. On the other hand, you're an Aussie living in NZ, so you have to be forgiven for your ongoing confusion - assuming I've learned anything from @Marcus and @minion. I recommend you never move to Canada. The results could be disastrous.
frank says:

Sep 25 2013 at 7:03 am

@brett

Anyway, finally got around to re-cabling and taping after two years because of this discussion... so it's achieved something.

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Beautiful. I feel physiologically better knowing you cleaned that mess up.

Also, looks like you switched to the new fizik performance tape. A trick I learned with it is to make sure you don't stretch it at all when wrapping so the padding stays more puffy. Love that stuff.
DeKerr says:

Sep 25 2013 at 8:32 am

@frank

@brett

So, your concluding sentence "do not violate these principles" (and therefore the whole article) is moot then?

None of the principles talk about putting the brake cable in front or behind - that's something you invented into the discussion on your own, git.

Life must be difficult for you, having such a tiny brain. On the other hand, you're an Aussie living in NZ, so you have to be forgiven for your ongoing confusion - assuming I've learned anything from @Marcus and @minion. I recommend you never move to Canada. The results could be disastrous.

Easy there captain. You're a bit too close to the border to be casting aspersions on those of us north of the 49th.

Then again, my cable routing is currently less than fantastic (inherited from bike's previous owner) so I should probably go fix that before October 5th.
DeKerr says:

Sep 25 2013 at 8:52 am

@frank I just noticed my Velominati +1 icon. That was either for my rant on Froomie's stem-staring or there's a glitch in the system. Since I doubt there's a glitch - Sweet! Thank you.

Fuck. Now I really do have to go and get my bike looking fantastic.
LadyV says:

Sep 25 2013 at 11:48 am

I've never posted, just lurked here for a while, but I just had to show off my cables.