I work in a large company and service quite a few of the guys bikes (on the side). Recently one guy had his Road bike nicked but got a new one through insurance and has had loads of things wrong so asked me to look at it. He already had the front brake come off whilst riding! Heres the thing im asking… should the gear cables cross over each other down the downtube so that they cause poor shifting and start after only 6 weeks wearing a hole in the paint? The bike shop say its fine they are all coming like that now!!! I also think they crossthreaded the BB! Please tell me they are talking crap.

Specialized have been crossing over gear cables for a few years. Dunno if they still do.

Depends on the bike- Specialized etc like the cables to cross under the downtube. It’s almost certainly right.

should the gear cables cross over each other down the downtube

it’s the easiest way to get the gear cable to the rear derailleuer – starts on left, crosses on down tube and then straight run from BB to rear drop out?

why would it wear the down tube – it shouldn’t really be touching it?

I had a bike that came with the cables crossed like that. The explanation I got at the time didn’t make much sense to me so I put it ‘right’ and it’s been fine. As above though, not uncommon apparently.

You get a better cable run to the downtube stops if you put rh cable to lh stop (and vice versa).It stops the cable S-bending against the headtube when you turn the bars.Not possible on all bikes,you just have to check the downtube clearance.The cables touching won’t affect the shifting.Unlike the muppets who stick crud catchers over the cables and wonder why the shifting goes to pot.

some bikes (specialized for one) are designed for it, and the cable stops stick out more so the cables won’t touch the tube. Some aren’t, so they don’t, so they do.
Also, they sometimes have a right way and a wrong way of crossing over.. The BB guide might stick out further for one cable than the other so they don’t put tension on each other.

It stops the cable S-bending against the headtube

That bend was causing cable rub on my headtube. So swapped the cables with the stops round. The wires crossed; didn’t affect shifting in any way, just get your cable tension right.I used a pair of pliers to give a good tug before tightening down.

It was on a specialized but it definaly was rubbing the downtube. The front mech cable was over the rear, so pushing it against the frame. I cant really see any advantage from doing this, the s bend is really not that bad, the shifting is better without the cross. Do they do this on their top end bikes aswell? ive never seen it before.

Yep, and have done for years. If its rubbing the frame and not shifting right there’s a problem, but I doubt it’s caused by the inners being crossed!

yeah maybe not the cross thats affecting shifting but touching the frame probably is.

Always done it myself and my Commencal was also supplied with them crossed, doubt it improves or worsens shifting but it looks neater with better looping. If its rubbing put some frame protection tape on it or some of those rubber cable donut things
As for bottom bracket why do you think it’s cross threaded? If it was supplied as a complete bike surely the BB would have already been installed when it was delivered to the shop from the factory? The shop wouldn’t have any need to touch it?