Originally Posted by
Flandria_76
Road.cc reviewed the 2013 Jake the Snake (same basic frame as the Jake) and mentioned the internal cabling was sleeved and how dirt and grime got in during the test of the bike.
Kona Jake the Snake (2013) review | road.cc
For 2013, the Jake had disc brakes while the Snake did not. They are otherwise substantially similar, but the Snake has an internally routed rear brake cable where the base Jake does not.
The comment in the review about the internal cable routing being sleeved is correct though. I run my 2013 Jake the Snake as a singlespeed and have raced it in pretty muddy conditions. I haven't had braking performance problems the way they describe, but I did have an issue where the rear brake cable was causing a really loud creak. (It took me forever to track that cable down as the cause of it.) I fixed that by using a ferrule (which at least that line has space for).
I use my 2013 Jake as a commuter, so no mud experience, but it has seen a lot of rain miles. I had a shifting problem that was caused by the cable rub I mentioned above, but no problems with grit in the inner routing. I'm pretty sure this bike didn't come with ferrules on the shift cables. It's been a while since I've had to change that, and I can't remember off hand if there is room for them or not.