I don't weave with a bead or a string for that matter. I also don't leave the tip of the cross string sticking out from the grommet when I string crosses. I turn the racket if needed, insert the string and pull through the cross so only a loop large enough to reach the tensioner is left. But cutting down on the time required to do all those little time consuming tasks is what you need to look for if you're going to speed string. I don't speed string either. I'm never in that much of a rush to get the racket out the door and I have no intention to ever enter a speed competition. Many years ago I prewove crosses down the frame but except for one ahead stringing on the crosses and an occasional Yonex loop I don't pre weave down the racket. I usually pre weave the top three crosses up the racket though to eliminate blocked holes. Actually my stringing has become pretty boring except for the occasional digression in hopes to improve my technique. I've actually experimented on my customers rackets before but not without their permission and many times they get a free string job for letting me do it. I've picked up some rackets from the Goodwill to experiment on and later donated them to pros or tennis centers for loaners.
I've offered comments and new techniques to help those that want new or different ways to string a racket. I assume others can use them or knot as they see fit. I'd like to see other ideas from others on stringing but it seems like they are few and far between any more. I'd like to see YuLitle back again but it isn't too difficult to see why he doesn't care to contribute any more. I've heard he teaches now and I know that's a pretty time consuming job. And their could be other reasons.
Just for the sake of argument (and to further derail the thread [Sorry OP, I have a tendency to do this...]), I don't think pre-weaving multiple strings (>2) saves in time, string mangling, etc. I actually think it makes all of the above worse.
I don't know many people who leave the tip of the cross string sticking out. I assume when you say this you mean that you weave the cross, and then leave the string rather than pulling most of the slack through and then sticking the string end into the NEXT string. This is actually worse for the string! You lose the benefit of the soft weave in terms of wear-and-tear if you do this. You should
always be pulling all the string (besides the implied tensioning loop) because it is more gentle on the string. The dangling end of the string (in my experience) is best kept tucked away under a rolled up pinky finger or rubber band if you like to do that (I find it too fiddly). If you do NOT pull the last cross string through, presumably you'd be tensioning the "one behind" (current) cross string, thus shifting the zig-zag pattern of the "next" (now current) string. If you still had the remainder of your slack to pull through (long loop), you'd be increasing the wear and tear to the string. This is one of those things that isn't a big enough deal to really nit-pick about, but (as usual) if we're discussing minutiae, it is theoretically better.
Now, if we pre-weave multiple strings (5-6), the problem is double, IMO. You mentioned "Many years ago I prewove crosses down the frame ..."
In my experiments, you had a hard limit to how many crosses are/were pre-weavable. This was largely in part due to the tensioning loop (which roughly means your'e down 2x minimum crosses at the bottom), and THEN you had to leave mini loops on all following cross strings so you could wedge a finger and pull the next string through. I found at MAX I would only ever be able to pre-weave about 7-8 strings before I ran out of string. This was also due to the added slack to make very exaggerated Vs to minimize string damage. Even if I did that, I always found I had to yank on the strings way harder than the "KISS" method of one-ahead, AND the speed "savings" was always in the (significantly) negative side of the spectrum.
All other stuff aside, in the context of the original digression - I think 50/50 is still OK for gut from a wear and tear perspective, but if you find yourself needle-and-threading often at the end of your string jobs, you indeed may want to avoid it.
I cinch by hand these days on gut.
