No, the cables run free with the wheel turned completely in either direction. Previously I was running upside down super bike bars and had the cables routed differently... they did pull when the bars were turned to the side ( to the right if i remember right)... but this set up, with these bars, has been working flawlessly for me.... the routing of cables had been sort of a mystery thing until i read somewhere, maybe here, that the main objective was that they not be put under strain whenever the wheel was turned. I am pretty confident that i found a good routing for my bike..Ive been running it this way for a number of months now, and with a bunch of slow, tight turn runs through the MalWart parking lot... no problems.