kim klakow noted that threading brake cable run through drilled handlebars...
"Also works very nicely if you use a brake cable itself. Since they are stiffer you can work them through quite easily and the just slip the housing over it. Once you have the housing through, whip out the brake cable and, viola!"
Believing that sometimes brute force works better than finesse, I snake through with a bent coat hanger wire. Once it has both ends where I want them, I pull the brake cable housing over the coat hanger, and carefully lead them both through by mostly pushing the cable housing. Then thread the greased brake cable through the housing after removing the coat hanger (trying to be very specific here).
harvey (who rides a cable run-drilled, new-logo, scratched-up, Cinelli bar on his fixed-gear commuter) sachs mcLean va