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internal housing

Old 04-06-16, 06:22 AM
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internal housing

So what's the point of running internal housing?
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Old 04-06-16, 06:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Squeezebox
So what's the point of running internal housing?
Looks?
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Old 04-06-16, 06:59 AM
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Maybe clean lines, expression of frame building mastery, showing attention to details, not much that I can see.
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Old 04-06-16, 07:35 AM
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An image of better aerodynamics. Emphasis on "image".

Perhaps for wired electronic drivetrains (Di2, etc.) it protects the fragile wires from damage.
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Old 04-06-16, 07:53 AM
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Allows the framebuilder to do all kinds of wacky tube shapes without having braze-ons jutting off in funky places.

Definitely nice for electronic shifting for putting junction boxes and batteries inside the frame, in addition to protecting wires (considering each individual length of wire is MSRP $25 or so).
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Old 04-06-16, 08:14 AM
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I hate internal routing for standard cables. Pain in the arse to install most of the time and if you break a cable on the road it can be near impossible to thread a new one in the frame. If you have a shop do it the price may be higher (but not always) do to the extra time to get the job done. With most cables being stainless corrosion is not an issue.
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Old 04-06-16, 08:38 AM
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I think it's easier for carbon frames routing otherwise I'd say looks. I totally unlike them. When I picked my carbon road frame I went with the less internal as possible. Only my brake cable is internal. I have an internal routing brake cable on an old steel road bike. So it's been going on for a long time. I guess it does give a cleaner look.
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Old 04-06-16, 08:53 AM
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Looks.
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Old 04-06-16, 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Crankycrank
I hate internal routing for standard cables. Pain in the arse to install most of the time and if you break a cable on the road it can be near impossible to thread a new one in the frame.
True, but not that big of a deal. I've had the same bike with internal cables for both derailleurs and the rear brake for 13 years, and this has happened ONCE. Cable installs done for maintenance are no pain at all, and the one time I broke my FD cable on the road, I just had to finish the ride in my little ring.

I like the way they look.
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Old 04-06-16, 04:26 PM
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I don't see much point to internal cable routing if you still have to have the big loops of cable coming out of the shifters, or at least with under-bar-tape routing, from the bar to the frame entry point.

I think it would be cool if somebody could design a shifter/bar/stem/frame combination that could have totally internal cable routing; from inside the shifter to inside the bar, then down inside the stem to an internal space in the headtube outside the steerer tube (maybe a jacketed surround?) to the inside of the head/downtube, then exiting the frame near the application. Rear brake could pass through a slotted (custom drilled?) seat-post, and out the back of the seat tube.

All this mostly for looks though, and barely a little bit for aero, only makes a difference at the very top end of racers.

A lot of design effort and manufacturing cost for very little benefit. Maybe a lot of that could be accomplished with a well-designed fairing around the headtube to hide the cables until they enter the frame?

Of course before long electronic shifting will be wireless, so that will eliminate the need for shifter cables at all.

Maybe (hydraulic disk) brake cables could come from the lever through the bar and stem, a small slot at the top of the steerer tube, route down the middle, come out the bottom of the fork, enter the fork leg in a hidden location, come out near the front brake, also u-turn out the bottom of the fork and enter the frame from the bottom of the downtube, very inconspicuous?
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Old 04-06-16, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by RubeRad
I think it would be cool if somebody could design a shifter/bar/stem/frame combination that could have totally internal cable routing; from inside the shifter to inside the bar, then down inside the stem to an internal space in the headtube outside the steerer tube (maybe a jacketed surround?) to the inside of the head/downtube, then exiting the frame near the application. Rear brake could pass through a slotted (custom drilled?) seat-post, and out the back of the seat tube.


A lot of design effort and manufacturing cost for very little benefit. Maybe a lot of that could be accomplished with a well-designed fairing around the headtube to hide the cables until they enter the frame?

Maybe (hydraulic disk) brake cables could come from the lever through the bar and stem, a small slot at the top of the steerer tube, route down the middle, come out the bottom of the fork, enter the fork leg in a hidden location, come out near the front brake, also u-turn out the bottom of the fork and enter the frame from the bottom of the downtube, very inconspicuous?
Here's a youtube video: https://tinyurl.com/jfunsmk Check around 5:30 for the front brake cabling. This is a Fuji D6, Fuji's previous tri bike. I don't know what the guy is saying, and I didn't watch him close enough to see if he really aced the build (you can slap one together, but it takes some forethought to really get the brakes and shifting nice and tight), but I can say this bike is an absolute PITA to assemble (I built a dozen of them, at least. Plus recabling jobs). Stupid internal everything. I say this as someone who owns a Fuji SST (internally cabled road bike). But hey, no more than any other Tri bike from the last 5-10 years. They're all terrible, I just built more of these

What you suggest can probably be done, but I think the fork would need to be factory custom cut, and extra holes added to the steer tube, for each rider. Then you wouldn't be able to turn the steer tube more than a few degrees.

Thank heck for electronic shifting!
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Old 04-06-16, 05:34 PM
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So that already looks like a pain to set up, and what I am conceiving would be even more of a pain. The front brake cable exits the bars, and goes down the center of the stem cap. I'm thinking the top profile of the stem could be raised higher to leave a channel that would allow a cable to pass into the steerer tube unseen. But I bet you're right, the steering angle would be limited by cables going tight.
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Old 04-06-16, 06:04 PM
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Internal housing allows you to replace the cables without having to fish them through the frame. It works pretty well on mine, but the one for the FD cable has a tight bend where it goes around the BB and getting the cable to follow the bend isn't easy.

scott s.
.
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Old 04-06-16, 06:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Crankycrank
I hate internal routing for standard cables. Pain in the arse to install most of the time.
Once I figured it out I haven't found it to be too bad. My trick is to position the bike frame so that the exit hole is at the bottom. The cable seeks the bottom of the tube and almost wants to route itself out. For me the hardest thing has been figuring out how to position the bike frame so that i can see the exit hole.
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Old 04-06-16, 07:37 PM
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I always kept a variety of plastic tubing salvaged from various packaged internally cabled bikes- plastic tubing that was just big enough for a cable to pass through but just small enough to pass through the holes that the cables pass through in the frame. disconnect the brake or derailer, and slide the tubing as a sleeve over the cable all the way through the frame so it sticks out both ends. Then tape it to the frame so it doesn't decide to slip out of place. Makes it just as easy to work on as any other bike, just more steps involved.

Otherwise, creative use of thin string and a shop vac for suction or venturis yields surprisngly good results. then tie the string ti the cable or sleeve the aforementioned tubing over the end of the string.

On that D6, the internal tubing is actually pretty darn cool, it's big enough for housing to pass through, and smoothly, so you get continuous runs from the handlebars to the brake/derailer. The one nice part of the construction.
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