Hey folks,

Curious. I love my ride. I do. There is one thing I hate though, it has external cable routing. Is it possible to be converted to internal?

I know, I know. It makes little to no difference in performance. I just really like the aesthetics better and with external, I constantly have to clean them.

Is it even possible to do since my frame is carbon fiber?

Also, even if you find this to be silly, be civil. I am just looking for info.

(why do I feel like I just opened a can of worms?)

Get one of these, and it's easy.

https://www.parktool.com/product/int...ing-kit-ir-1-2

It is possible, but doing it correctly is almost impossible by the average professional mechanic.

The framebuilder I know spent thousands of dollars having his framesets analyzed, looking for the best spot to route the cables.

Just out of curiosity, who would you recommend I look for? Not a specific person, per se, but rather what qualifications? Where would I go about finding someone that could do this?

I'd just buy a China frameset for $500 and swap everything over.

Just buy a bike that has that feature if it's that important to you. Sell your current bike and you'll be out less money and hassle than converting your bike would be.

or just buy etap.

No you don't.

... Or get a sealed kit if its an issue. Jagwire has some (Road Elite sealed shift kit) and Im sure many others. Not sure about shimano tho.

How well internal cables work depends on how well the frame was designed. Some have no rubber seal where the FD cable exits the frame, on it's way up to the FD. That's right where the rear tire throws a stream of water. My Colnago has a tight fitting seal that should reduce water intrusion, but then I never ride in the rain (deliberately). Both cables have cable housing liner around the BB area, to keep out dirt.

Changing out the internal cables takes a lot longer. I looked over the Park Tool video on their cable guide kit and saw nothing of value in it, for my Colnago. If I lose the cable routing, a length of small diameter welding rod can be used to get through the holes at each end. I then use some heat shrink tubing to join the cable to the welding rod and pull the cable into the frame. It's still a real pain. I try to retain the pathway by using heat shrink tubing to join a guide cable to the old cable and pull it all the way up to the head tube, when I change a cable. Just don't let the guide cable slip out of the hole near the head tube, or it's back to probing with the welding rod.

I would not try to convert any frame over to internal.

Not everyone has that option.

I dint think it is safely possible to convert, because youd be drilling holes in your frame where they are not intended: dangerous.

Sickbiker has a good video on the benefits of External cable routing. I have internal cable routing, kind of wish i had external.
https://youtu.be/5YthCLjYEjA

Yeah, I dunno. Internal routing is much more elegant, and re-cabling could be a fairly easy task, if only manufacturers thought of it and made it a priority. Why can they ship the bikes with sheath and liner type cables. Then you leave in the sheath and just replace the cable and liner. Seems so obvious to me.