Originally Posted by The Golden Boy

I've done it with the cables going out at the drop bend, I've done it with 'criss cross' cables so you have nicer arcs and I've done it under the wraps.

With modern cable and housing, there's really no reason to NOT do it all under the wraps- the friction difference is negligible. Unless you like the looks of the "traditional" ways.

Then again, if you're using a front rack and a rack bag- you really want it to go under the wraps since the cables will interfere with the bag.

Under the wraps (with aero levers)

IMG_0220 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr


The arcs of the cables with the 'criss cross' cables- it's so much easier to get right- and it looks more pleasing to me.

CrissCrossCables by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

CrissCrossFront by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr



To do that ^ you need to have the cables crossed at some other point- it's easiest under the downtube. Of course, this can be problematic if your cables don't go under the BB.

UnderDownTube by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr



I wish I would have taken some better, non-cluttered pix when I had the bike set up that way.