BoSoxYacht

My cables last several years, and I ride 14-15k miles a year. Weather has a lot to do with cable wear.

Campag4life

Good bike riders never shift and ride their bikes as a single speed. So its OK if the cables freeze due to corrosion and lack of maintenance and should last the life time of the bike, maybe two life times.

BoSoxYacht

Cables last a long time when you live in an area that gets about 5" of rain annually.

Jiggle

My BH RX1 has internal routing along the top tube, then the rd and fd cables exit and go down the seat stays and seat tube. This method is easy to service and not prone to rattling like my CAAD 9 downtube cables. On the CAAD, I have to put rubber doughnuts on the cables which are prone to slipping down if I don't keep them replaced with new, tight ones.

f4rrest

My external rear derailleur cable lasts 3 months. I bought a bike store sized box of 100 so I'll always have one available. Thank goodness it's external.

klmmicro

Wow, my stock cables lasted 2 years before I changed them out. The current ones are poly coated and show no signs of wear, though I was off the bike for a year. Sounds like you mike have something causing abrasion on the cable coating...?

f4rrest

I'm sure it's not normal. I have replaced the cable jackets. The cable always frays where the end is crimped on inside the shift lever mechanism. Ultegra 6600 I hear have issues.

I haven't ridden this bike much lately since getting the Evo with electronic shifting, so problem solved.

2manybikes

Stainless last years. Less expensive steel will rust quickly when rained on. My stainless shift cables eventually break
a strand or two where the sharp corner is where the cable end is in the shifter drum. About 6000 miles. My stainless brake cables have lasted well over a decade, and will keep on going. 10,000 plus miles on at least one bike. I have stopped using anything except stainless cables, it is working great.

Scooper

On steel frames with top tube brake cable guide braze-ons and riders who sweat a lot, absolutely.

Done properly with cable entry and exit on the side of the tube near the bottom and a small stainless tube brazed inside the top tube for the cable, it doesn't make noise and you don't have to worry about the cable guides corroding from sweat. It's also very easy to remove/install the cable; you just shove it in one end and watch it come out the other end.

Homebrew01

All mine are external & last many years. I think I've had 1 break in 30+ years.

gregf83 

I don't think I'd want to sweat on that bike. Very nice. Do you have any more pics?

Scooper

That's Darrell (Dazza) McCulloch's handiwork. He is Llewellyn Custom Bicycles in Australia. It's not my bike, but there's lots of porn on his Flickr photostream. He's a helluva framebuilder and a nice guy.

deacon mark

My rear derailleur loop goes pretty quick maybe at least once a year I have to change the housing. Since cable and housing ( jagwire) in bulk are cheap I just swap out the cable and the housing for derailleurs. Brake housing and cable can go for much longer. My OCD hits and if things do not shift just correct or brake I put the new stuff on.

Garfield Cat

Maybe in a pro race it could be critical if the cables are exposed and there is a crash. If that cable is broken, then its a longer time loss for that rider.

The rattle: heck, the carbon rims make a lot of noise too.

IcySmooth52

The cheap jagwire ones don't last, but if you get nice ones like SRAM slickwire (black instead of silver) they last many years and many miles.

tonymarch

Lee,

Did you do anything specific to prevent rattling in your Emonda? I just got a 2015 Emonda SL, and there is definitely some cable rattle - not to the point that I hate the bike, but it can be a little annoying. My '11 Madone never rattled at all (unfortunately, it got trashed two weeks ago). I might go back to my LBS if it keeps up.

Bunyanderman

Looks better, maybe slightly more aero, 10x harder to replace.

Lazyass

My '92 Paramount has the entire brake cable housing running through the top tube. That was a nightmare to replace until I figured out I could duct tape the end of the new housing to the old one and pull it all through.

Bike Gremlin

I hate "fishing" for cables when changing them on internal routed frames. Wouldn't buy one, ever.

JohnJ80

There's a whole bunch of cool tricks that make it easy. It's not that bad. Easiest of all - tape a piece of string on the old cable and pull it through. Then do the same thing with the new cable and pull it through. I like this one with a vacuum. Given a choice, internal cables are high on my list of things I want in a bike.

J.

TrojanHorse

You don't have to fish - you are smart and run the little routing sleeve doohickey that came with the frame over the old cable and use that to guide in the new one. It's not hard at all.

I did the california cross on my internal shifter cables. I have no idea if it made them quieter or not, I just like the improvement up front.

catgita

I like mostly external cables so I can unhook them and clean. The top tube I like internal so I can shoulder the bike, hang it on hooks, and don't contact them with my legs.

redfooj

Aerodynamics...lmao at the absurdity

I <3 Robots

I've got internal routed cables on both my road and mountain bikes. Kind of a pain...but it's something I don't touch often...so I don't really mind. I think it's a bit overblown on difficulty of maintenance.

cydewaze

Exactly what I do. While it does take a little longer than the external cables, it's really not bad. I inherited internal cable routing when Trek replaced my 5500 with an Emonda, and I was like "Ugh!" but it's turned out fine. And no having to slide o-rings onto the cables to prevent them from smacking the frame.