In your own shop – doesn’t the Roubaix still have external routing?
I keep recommending the last generation of OPEN frames to friends - great bikes with cable routing through the frame (not the headset), comfortable geo, useable tire clearance, and they’re on deep discount right now.
If I was looking for a carbon fiber endurance road bike right now I would be snatching up an OPEN UP.
Cervelo Caledonia 105 Di2. Fun bike. Obedient like a golden retriever.
Have a look at the Ritchey Septimer Break-away too.
Ibis Haka MX, granted it is a Gravel bike, but there is nothing stopping you from having a set of wheels set up just for road.
Given where most of the stuff in industry trends is going, your best bets may be steel.
Check out “the other BMC” if you want something fairly in the gravel/all road category. Like a nicer Surly.
Ot just go all-in and get a Riv frame, but only if you’re into longer chain stays.
I wish there were more options in the carbon realm. In addition to easy maintenance, I also travel a bit and the integrated front ends make that much harder to do with a compact case.
I think the Open Min.d is a nice looking bike with geometry that would suite me but their seat mast gives me pause for a couple reasons: the tiny screws used leave me concerned about durability particularly if I am disassembling multiple time a year for travel, and the not a lot of compact cases accommodate the seat mast.
If you won’t be traveling with the bike much, I think the Min.d is a neat option. Also, depending on whether you want race or endurance geometry the previous gen Aethos and Caledonia (non 5) are compelling options but it’s pretty slim picking out there.
If you aren’t married to carbon, custom or small batch steel and titanium options abound.
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I have a Fairlight Secan, and it’s absolutely brilliant (as backed up by a few CRs, on various, admitidly mainly descending based terrain, but at least one of those in on singletrack where most of the other times were set on MTBs).
The Secan is a gravel bike, but Fairlight also do the Strael all-road ike, which has had fantastic reviews (5 out of 5 in some publications). While I would generally treat any non EC reviews with a pinch of salt, if the Stael is anything like as good as the Secan, then those reviews are accurate.
The Strael has also been a Trans-continental winner.
Fairlight offer their bikes in regular and tall geoemtries, so you would be hard pressed not to find the fit you want.
Can confirm that the Fairlight Strael is a great bike. After frustrations with full internal routing and out of spec BB, I went this steel option that is not much more than 1 full water bottle heavier than the carbon it had replaced. In terms of angles, geometry is near identical to what I had, so it feels very familiar, but can take 38mm rubber so has slightly longer wheelbase. Running it with 30mm currently though.
On familiar routes, average speeds are identical, so not noticeably affected by any lack of areo or extra weight. The externally routed mechanical shifting is vastly better behaved then the compromised internal routing.
So basically, all upsides!
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For what it’s worth, Pinarello use basically the same approach to hold the seat post on a Dogma… No issue whatsoever, as long as you’re using a torque wrench - which pretty much always applies when tightening seat clamp bolts.
Also, with the saddle and ISP head off, a MIN.D will fit in most bike bags and boxes unless you have giraffe legs - I run a 770mm saddle height and it fits in my EVOC bag without issue.
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I saw a pro near the front of the race in yesterday’s Levi’s Gran Fondo and I thought his bike looked older but didn’t immediately recognize why. After a few seconds, I realized it was because it had external cable routing. I haven’t see that on a pro’s bike in years! He was on a BMC, so I assume a Team Machine, but it must have been several years old if it had external routing.
I ride a steel Chumba SOCO and have been pretty happy with it. If I was buying again, I’d probably go for the Fairlight Strael. Looks amazing and has raving reviews. Kinda sad you can’t even buy an affordable carbon bike without internal routing anymore.
The Aethos also has traditional non-head tube cable/hose routing. Very comfy and light endurance to all-road platform (depending on your tire preferences). Officially clears 32mm but could probably squeeze a measured 35mm tire. If you need more clearance than that, the Crux is almost the same bike with room for more rubber.
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Pinarello set screws are a common size. On the Open, they’re a non standard, much finer pitch. I’ve never seen the Pinarello set screws strip (occasionally seen the head round out due to a bad tool), which I can’t say for the Open, despite working on 10x the Pinarellos. For a while, most of the Open MiND masts ended up stripped by the owner. Fortunately, they updated the masts with larger diameter, still extra fine pitch, set screws, and usually send you extra.
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I’m about to pull the trigger on a Curve GRX4 (aka Kevin). Just trying to decide on 1x or 2x mech so I can order the correct cable guide set. It has fully external cable routing, which was one of the deciding factors for me (along with threaded BB and UDH). The Curve Belgie has external headset routing if you are looking for something more road oriented.
I have a crux, which is internal except for the head tube and stem. I haven’t had to work on it, but I assume it will be less of a pain. I use it for (all) road and gravel with two wheelsets.
Santa Cruz Stigmata. Uses a normal seatpost and very few proprietary parts. Internal cable routing is limited to the frame. I have the 2nd Gen. Despite being 8 years old, modern endurance or all road bikes are just now catching up to it in terms of geometry and tire clearance. Bit ironic, considering it was released as a cyclocross bike, but who am I to judge.
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I had a Cervelo that gave me nothing but trouble and the stem bolt breaking because I had to constantly retighten it was the final straw (there were other problems too that proprietary parts made more difficult to solve). To solve this, I did go custom, and it really wasn’t any more expensive than a big brand bike. Seeker by Chris McGovern…consider it.
I have a road logic disc that is completely externally routed, I had a campagnolo record disc mechanical group sitting on the wrong bike for a while before I got this.
Actually I think the fork may have semi integrated routing.
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Seconded! Anything steel basically.
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Didn’t see it mentioned here - although it fits the steel theme: Surly bikes.
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