regardless of the charm related to the 'old ways' when affixing some of the brazed-on fittings, i prefer them underneath the bb shell. aesthetically, they look 'better' to me above the bb on bicycles up through the end of the nr/sr era. for mounts after that, i like them underneath. reason? there isn't a rider/racer/frame guy alive who hasn't seen one (MANY?) of the top o' shell pieces torn, or nearly torn, off. and, they present cleaning and painting problems too. underneath, they are in compression rather than shear. i think that's a better solution to the question, "where should they go?"
e-RICHIE
chester, ct