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| My cabling routing I use which was learned from Jason Boucher |
History: When I went to visit Quality Bicycle Products in late 2008 to see and ride the then new Salsa Cycles Fargo, I was invited to tag along with Jason Boucher, who was then the brand manager for Salsa Cycles.
As we prepared the bikes at Jason's home for the Fargo ride the following day, Jason taught me a new-to-me cabling method for external routing of a geared drop bar bike that was elegant and kept the head tube from being rubbed by cable housing. I found the idea so worth using that I associated it with Jason Boucher and ever since I have called this method of cabling a drop bar bike "The Boucher Route".
Now, Jason would be the first to tell you that this is not his idea or invention, and that is true. However; this is what I am calling it, and have been calling it for over ten years, so there! Ha! It is what it is....
Besides, I wanted to honor Jason for his friendship and early advocacy of my efforts in reviewing product and events production. These days Jason has moved on from the bicycle business to doing his own line of camera bags. Check those out HERE.
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| My old "Fat Fargo" from 2015 using the "Boucher Route" cabling method. |
Explainer: Okay, so let's dig into what is going on here. I've done the "Boucher Route" on nearly every geared, disc brake drop bar bike I have owned since 2008, but this "Fat Fargo" example from 2015 is a great example since I employed two different shifters on the same bike. Note: this routing only works in its entirety for disc brake drop bar bikes. Cantilever brake bikes will require different front brake cable routing than this example does.
#1: This is the route for the rear shifting which you would use with an external cable housing run for most earlier Shimano STI levers up to about 2010-ish when Shimano started routing the cables under the bar tape. Note that instead of having the right side cable go to the right side cable stop, it goes to the left. The example here is showing a Gevenalle shifter set up.
#2: Here you see the route for the left shifter, which in this case is a bar-end shifter, but the routing would exit the bar tape in a similar manner for STI/SRAM under-the-bar-tape shifting as well. The left side shifter cable housing goes to the right side of the bike.
#3: The brakes. Note that the brake cable route for the left/front goes behind the head tube and fork from the right. So, you do not go from the left brake and try to make a tight curve down toward the left fork leg here, On steel frames you have the option of cable tying the housing to the center hole on the fork crown, but you do not have to do this in every case. The rear/right side brake cable housing goes to the down tube cable mounts from the left side of the head tube.
Benefits: The "Boucher Route" keeps the gentle curves which cause less cable friction and also it keeps the cable housings bowed outwards from the head tube in a better way. This causes less paint damage due to its keeping the housings from contacting the paint on the head tube unless you turn the bars enough that the cable housings eventually contact the frame at the head tube.
Cons: The "Boucher Route" can cause really long runs of cable for the derailleurs and rear brake. I've had to use tandem cables many times, longer housings, and those are more expensive, Also- It won't work on every bike. Typically I have found this is a great idea for steel and titanium bikes. However, many carbon bikes and lots of aluminum bikes won't benefit from this, or they have internal cable routing, or no cables because you have hoses and wireless shifting.
I hope that explains the "Boucher Route", its history, and how it might be a benefit to you. Got any more questions? You know what to do!
Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!
5 comments:
I think a close up shot of the front end might help people better understand this. I had to zoom in and the resolution is a low to see the details.
You didn’t mention it, but this routing requires that the front and rear shifter cables cross each other under the down tube. The rear shifter cable must be on the right side of the bottom bracket for shifting to work correctly. Since you have it on the left at the head tube, it has to cross over. That’s an important thing for someone trying this to understand.
Do you sometimes have issues with the crossed cables interfering with under-the-downtube water bottle bosses?
@Nooge - Yeah, maybe I could have been more visually detailed, but.....and this is because I think most of my readers are not inexperienced, I think it is clear enough. And I also offered to answer any questions, right? So, I think the post is okay as it stands.
Crossing Cables: This gets into a lot of people's heads. There is more friction on a cable running through a housing than there ever will be/could be at a single point where two Bowden cables cross each other. That is of no concern to me and no- it never has caused any issues for me or the hundreds of customer's bikes I've strung that way.
Now- On a really oversized down tube, ala Cannondale from the 1990's? Then it is a problem because the cable rubs the paint off the down tube where it lays against the tubing due to the tubing's diameter. Like I say- this doesn't work on every bike.
@Nooge - I see you asked about inteference with under-the-downtube water bottle bosses. Well, that's going to happen no matter what -standard routing gets in the way sometimes also. The fix is to put spacers in between the cage and the downtube to act as standoffs and to use longer bolts. In fact, the Singular came with such a set up.
Thanks for the explanation. I was curious the other day, too. I've always been crossing cables under the downtube when able. Now I'm wondering where I read to do that. Sheldon Brown, maybe? I'll have to give it some thought.
Anyway, the front brake routing is new to me. It's sort of what Manitou gives you the option to do on their reverse-crown suspension forks.
Blain - I could see why Sheldon Brown would have advocated for this sort of cabling style. I learned it from a magazine back in the day that showed how the Specialized Team mechanics set up their XC race bikes.
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