Should the gear cables from my shifters fit into the cable stop on the opposite side of headtube to the shifter (i.e. partially wrap the headtube) to get a nice radius’d bend?

If I do this, the two cables then need to cross as they go down the down tube to the bottom bracket guide. Is this bad practice or ok?

Its for a Kinesis Aithein and I don’t know there are many people with this frame yet, so just looking for a bit of general advice on routing.

No problem with the crossing so long as they don’t touch and enter the bb cable guide properly

If the line at the bars is nice then this is the way to go. I have always crossed mine under the down tube. Touching is to me a theoretical problem only . Never seen any wear what-so-ever.

Touching cables where they cross is not an issue; think of the tension the front derailleur cable is under when it wraps under the BB; here is no pressure on the cables when they cross.

If the cables rub the down tube, that’s bad. If they rub each other, that’s fine. Of course, it should be fine to route them without a crossover, too, though – most people route it that way. If you don’t cut your outers to some completely mental length the curve should be fine.

Thanks guys, fitted them, tensioned the cables and they don’t touch the down tube or each other, so its all good!