Correct way to cable a 98/99 cindercone?

[ellist]

Correct way to cable a 98/99 cindercone?
I have the rear brake on the left of the three lugs (looking down sat in the saddle) feeding left of the stem. The front derailleur feeds to the right of the stem and goes on the middle lugs. The rear derailleur feeds to the right of the stem and goes on the right lugs. Looking at pictures I cant make it out properly. I know my cable lengths at the post end are too long but want to sort it out properly.
I say 98/99 frame as the rear mech is fed from above as the 99 but it's eggplant like a 98. Probably late season cross over

 

[Anthony]

It is a 1998 frame - all 1998 Konas had top tube routing, but the design change must have been decided after the catalogue pictures were taken.

The problem with cable routing is partly caused by our driving on the left - in most countries you rear brake with your right hand, so the rear brake cable comes from the right and passes to the left of the head tube and therefore doesn't rub paint off the frame.

The other problem is that most people (but not me) are bothered by their cables crossing. Personally my first priority is to try to make all cables run round the opposite side of the head tube from the lever, so that the natural curvature will keep them away from the paint. You can usually achieve that somehow, either by crossing the cables along the top tube or by running the rear mech cable to the left of the seat tube, neither of which bother me but apparently do bother some.

I would always put the front mech cable into the right side rear cable stop though, and the rear mech cable to the left of it. That gives a much less cramped run for the right angle turn that the fm cable has to make.

 

[Pipmeister]

I felt inspired to re-route the cables on a few of my bikes after reading Anthony’s observations above.
My 1998 Hei Hei is now set-up in a way that hadn’t occurred to me before, with the Rear Mech middle section following a seemingly natural route. Perhaps this is the way to go with 3 cable Top Tube routing.

Indeed, Kona eventually dedicated the Top Tube middle stops for the rear brake hydraulic hose as seen on my 2001 Pahoehoe.

I also re-routed my 1997 Explosif which has a Down Tube Rear Mech stop. This did make using the left hand stops for the Rear Brake look a bit odd on its’ route around the Headtube. I would have taken some pictures to include the Pahoehoe and Explosif, but the light faded, so maybe tomorrow.











Pip.

 

[ellist]

That looks perfect thank you.

 

[Pipmeister]

Continuing on this theme, it is of note that Kona decided to alter the layout of the 3 Top Tube cable routings during the early naughties.

I managed to re-route my rather tatty 2001 Pahoehoe yesterday; once again taking the Rear Mech from the left hand stop and running under the Seat Stays. You can see by the wear on the paint how the previous owner had run the cables in a more conventional route over the top of the stay around the left hand side of the Seat Tube.





By 2003 however, Kona had decided to change the layout and dedicated the left hand stop for the hydraulic rear brake hose.





On my 2003 Kula Primo, you can see that the gear cables avoid touching the Headtube. I would imagine it would be rather tricky to route the rear brake hose around the right hand side of the Headtube, with a view to avoiding rubbing on the paint – as was the point raised in Anthony’s post.

Having said that, I do seem to have managed to put a sort of spiral loop into the rear hose around the left hand side of the Headtube, resulting in very little contact with the paint.



I’m still not entirely happy with the re-routing that I have now done on my 1997 Explosif with both Front Mech and Rear Brake running around the right hand side of the Headtube. I am yet to decide whether to do the same to my 1997 Muni Mula – both have Down Tube Rear Mech stops. The weather is against me for more pictures outside at the moment, but maybe I should continue this on Reader's MTBs --> 1997…. when it stops raining!
Pip.

 

[al-onestare]

Nice collection of Kona's!

 

[ellist]

Thanks for the replies. I now have recabled and I'm very happy with the end result visually and mechanically. Still doesn't look as nice as a Hei Hei though :cry: