Full length housing for front mech: where to end?

alomac

I'm looking to convert my gear cables to full-length housing, but I'm not sure where to end the housing for the front mech's cable. My bike routes the cable along the top tube and then down the seat tube. The last cable stop is at the top of the seat tube. Should I end the housing here and leave the inner cable exposed for its run down the seat tube, or should I continue the housing all the way down to the mech?

Chunkers1980

You can only go full length to your last stop. It's not like the rear mech which has a stop.

I don't think there's any advantage to full lengths even for the rear. But the front it makes very little difference, spring tension tends to be higher and overall it doesn't need to be so precise.

mrmonkfinger

Chunkers1980 wrote:

I don't think there's any advantage to full lengths even for the rear

I'd say its a slight advantage in favour of the full length on a MTB, as dirt becomes a non issue. And if you have bits of outer cable with wonky cuts, it can make shifting a bit vague.

The bike I've just put together has one of those under-the-bottom-bracket guides, which leaves the cable open to all sorts of crap, so a full length would stop a lot of mess from getting to the cable there.

benpinnick

Some front mechs run outers to a stop on the mech... I think its only for downtube routing though.

EDIT: I lied, they offer top and down tube routing.

The Rookie

I have an exposed cable BB guide, no issues, the crud doesn't clog it at all.

oodboo

I used to think full length outers were the business. Now I know better. You get a lot more drag pulling the cable through full length outers making the gear shifts heavier (not sure if that's the right terminology but it'll do). The shifting on my 29er with split housing is a lot lighter after a load of dirty rides than the brand new sp41 full length outer and new inner on my full sus.