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Shimano 105 - cross-over cable set-up?

arlowoodarlowood Posts: 2,561
edited September 2010 in Workshop
Hi Guys

Been getting some introductory miles in on my new road bike (Specialized Secteur Elite) and went out yesterday onto wet roads (after some overnight rain)After the ride I checked the underside of the downtube to see how much crud had been deposited.

It was at that point that I noticed that the gear cables had been set up with a cross-over towards the bottom of the down tube. In effect the rear mech gear cable exited the RH brake mounting and was guided thro the LH cable lug at the top of the downtube. Of necessity it then had to cross over to the RH cable guide on the bottom bracket to access the RH chain stay. The front mech cable effectively did the reverse so that there was a cross-over of the bare cables towards the bottom of the downtube.

Is this normal or have the LBS who set it up got their cables in a twist - so to speak??

It's just that my old Mercian Campag Mirage Triple does not have this set up - the gear cables run parallel down either side of the down tube.

Just a bit concerned that this might put some extra tension into the cables and shorten their life as a result (Not helped by the reports elsewhere of 105 front mech shifter failures said to be due to extra tension on the cable)

Posts

  • JohnnyAllezJohnnyAllez Posts: 785
    Spesh seem to like it done this way, seen a few done like that. It`s been discussed on here before, it gives the cables an easier route from the levers to the frame stops at the top end. I`ve got both mine done the other way with parallel cables down the tubes, as that`s the way I like it to look.
    Jens says "Shut up legs !! "

    Specialized S-Works SaxoBank SL4 Tarmac Di2
  • crankycrankcrankycrank Posts: 1,830
    Some frames do better with the crossover, others don't. As long as everything works smoothly then you might as well leave it as is. The main reason for routing cables in any particular way is to provide a path of least resistance and/or interference.
  • John.TJohn.T Posts: 3,698
    It also stops the cables rubbing the paint off the head tube (and rattling). I changed my Madone to cross cables for this reason. As long as the stops are low enough under the tube you can go either route.
    My Fleet.
  • rickr55rickr55 Posts: 38
    my 2010 4.7 madone has crossed gear cables thought this was a censored up by lbs until i saw other madones all seem to be the same
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