Take note Specialized

People who visit Mtbr may have read my various posts on down tube cable routing, I hate it. If it was just the front derailleur cable it would be more direct but if it’s all three cables then it’s considerably less direct so there are no advantages to DT routing what so ever. When it gets dusty or muddy the DT looks a real mess, it makes the bike harder to clean and eventually the dust and mud scratches the cables and DT. In addition to that it puts cables directly in the line of fire from rocks, roots and grounding the bike...I’m sure no one wants to loose a hydraulic brake line in the middle of an all day ride. Some manufacturers are still doing really stupid things like using unsealed open gear cables under the DT. Specialized uses DT cable routing on nearly all of their bikes and I can tell you it was a real pain on my Stumpjumper, apart from the unreliability of the bike that was the second most important reason to ditch it. I still dislike DT routing but this post is aimed to show how it’s done properly. Lapierre are known for attention to detail so here are some neat improvements to cable routing for 2009. For a start the cables don’t go under the BB, they’re wrapped tightly over the BB. Secondly a clear sticky film now covers the DT to make sure it doesn’t get scratched badly like older Zesty’s. Thirdly Lapierre have used some seriously cool cable guides that don’t pinch the cables like the ones found on Specialized bikes.

Note the washing instructions…