The Editor received an inquiry regarding cable routing to the rear mech. A simple enough question, but with a surprisingly complicated answer. Generally speaking, frames from the 1930s had no braze-ons for cable routing at all, neither brakes nor gears. By the early 1950s, however, brake cable braze-ons were standard, but gear cable guides were not standardized. For gear cable routing, there were several options. These included: no provision for gear cables, necessitating external clip-on guides and stops; one or two pullies on top of the bb shell with guides/stops along the tt and chain stay; stops and/or guides on the dt and chain stay with a Bowden cable run above or beneath the bb shell; a brazed-on guide on top of the bb shell; and finally, tunnels under the bb shell. Frames are known with a combination of these options. So far as this Editor knows, Jack Denny pioneered the introduction of tunnels under the bb, an idea which caught on and by the 1970s had become standard practice with many builders. See below for examples of the options; with the exception of the 953-stainless frame at the end of this article, all of the frames featured below are from the early 1950s. (Mouse-over for captions.)
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