What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifters

[Cheesedisease]

Hello,

Setting up some Campag Record Bar End Shifters, 60s so friction shift.

I've tried to read up on the comments on on various forums...

They used older, more flexible braided inner cables, flexible housing, current compressionless housing, different cable routing effects etc.

...but no clearer on what's out there than I can easily buy that will work well.

So any recomendations of what people have used succesfully would be great. Will be used with early '60s Record front and rear mechs, and hoping to cable under tape and exit near stem if possible (but if too much friction maybe not).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Excel]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

I use standard pre-stretched gear cable with no problems, as for routing the cable most people used to let it exit on the bend below the brake levers, works well but looks a bit cluttered then I experimented by drilling an inlet hole on the lower bars about 1.1/2" in from the lever assembly and an exit hole about 1" in on the tops under the bar tape......looks neat and works fine!

 

[Old Ned]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

I use standard pre-stretched gear cable with no problems, as for routing the cable most people used to let it exit on the bend below the brake levers, works well but looks a bit cluttered then I experimented by drilling an inlet hole on the lower bars about 1.1/2" in from the lever assembly and an exit hole about 1" in on the tops under the bar tape......looks neat and works fine!

I did this on some Cinelli bars and they were OK while I rode them but I sold the bike to a mate - and they snapped around the holes.


He didn't talk to me for ages.


He couldn't, his jaw was wired.

 

[Cheesedisease]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

He didn't talk to me for ages.

He couldn't, his jaw was wired.

That's awful. I'll not be doing that!
I got some braided style inner cable so I'll try that with standard modern compressionless gear housing, see if shifting is less stiff with less friction than my initial attempt. If that fails I'll try using brake outer.

I saw an old picture of your bar end set up on another thread Old Ned. Looked good. Hopefully I can emulate that! If not I'll have to let the cables exit lower down.

 

[bigpantswheels]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

I've used lined brake housing and wrapped it under the bar tape and it shifted just fine. Start under the bar at the shift lever and route to the inward side of the brake lever and then under the bars the rest of the way. I have found this is much more comfortable on the hands when in the drops, the lump of the cable is where your thumb wraps around the handlebar and is barely noticeable. I also found that using a good quality stainless steel slick shifting cable makes a big improvement. I also ended up cutting about 1 inch off the ends of the bars to move the shift levers closer to my hands, this makes it easier to shift while in the drops without moving your hands back to the end of the bars. Hope this helps.

 

[Cheesedisease]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

Thanks for that. Most appreciated. Most likely I'll give that a go.

I did get it set up and shifting fine with modern gear outer and inner last night but with the cable exiting low down, from just after the drops. Used some of the really flexible exposed stainless type housing for the section from rear mech to chainstay stop. That's actually helped a little. Ideally, finding some decent lengths of that stuff for bending round the bars would be great.

Going to check out how it rides then see what difference wrapping the cable and exiting nearer the stem makes. If it doesn't still work well I'll definitely give the brake cable housing a go.

 

[keithglos]

The original Campagnolo inner cables were 49 strand, 7 strands of 7, and extra flexible, the outer was stainless steel with no plastic cover.
The gear lever has 2 holes for the cable, what you must never do is thread both of these then pull the wire through. You would then have a tight coil 9of useless wire.
You must thread the inner through the first hole and pull it through, then thread the second hole.
Keith

 

[orbeas]

Re: What Cables for '60s Campag Bar End Shifers

I use standard pre-stretched gear cable with no problems, as for routing the cable most people used to let it exit on the bend below the brake levers, works well but looks a bit cluttered then I experimented by drilling an inlet hole on the lower bars about 1.1/2" in from the lever assembly and an exit hole about 1" in on the tops under the bar tape......looks neat and works fine!

I did this on some Cinelli bars and they were OK while I rode them but I sold the bike to a mate - and they snapped around the holes.


He didn't talk to me for ages.


He couldn't, his jaw was wired.

Was common for riders to drill the bars to hide the cables and make the hadlebars more comfortable to use..
But you NEVER Cinelli bars as they broke !!
I always used TTT Super Leggro bars and they never had any problems, I used the same bars for over 4 years something like 120 cross races..

 

[Cheesedisease]

Thanks for that information Keith...

I actually picked up some '50s / 60s Campagnolo cables today. They're the braided type inner, with grey housing that is very thin plastic that you can see the coiled inner through. They were cheap so I figured worth a try if need be.

 

[loveoldbikes]

The original cables were just like any other gear cable, but longer, obviously. So you can get away with a rear cable to operate the front changer. Tandem or MTB cables will do for the rear. Later, cables were a sort of barley-twist pattern - I presume this made them glide easier. I have had a cable seize on me and ended up breaking the lever trying to shift it. Outer casing - Wilkos sell made up rear cables at just over £1.00 and the outers will do fine. When these things were in popular use in the 60s, most riders taped the outer all the way round the bar to emerge just before the stem, but some had the cable emerge straight out from the lower straight part of the bar, carrying forward for a bit before curving back to the stops on down tube. I always thought this looked untidy. Cyclo-cross riders seemed to favour this method, so there may be a reason for it. When Shimano introduced bar-end changers Dawes fitted them to the Galaxy with the shorter method. So I guess the choice is yours. I would not recommend drilling holes in bars.