Should in change to full length gear outers on Merlin Malt 4, if so what are people using to clip outer to frame?
Do many people use full length on hard tail?

I run full outer on all my bikes, winter in Wales buggers them up otherwise. Don't particuarly care what my bikes look like so I just cable tie them on.

Personally, I wouldn't use anything other than full length at any time. I wouldn't buy a new frame that had exposed outer any more becasue we don't get deep mud round here, but we do get thin watery gritty slop which riuns cable very quickly.

yeh, full length year-round here

buy greased cables (or a bit of 10yr old fork lube and a gun) and you should get nice long life out of 'em

Get rid of the cables all together. Go Singlespeed. Proper solution there.

Although personally (on geared bikes) I have never really had an issue with exposed cables, just replace when they need it. Roughly every year. No issues.

zip ties, can be done neatly with some thought, seems odd frames are still being made/sold with cables that remain exposed – fully encased cables are def. the way to go – cables last much longer as result and shifting stays smoother.

split cables here, shifts better.

I'm capable of cleaning my bike properly, and full length cables suck in just as much crap anyway.

Any recommendations on outer/inner? And where to buy full lengths? I had had suggested xt outer and xtr inner.

i really fail to see what the point of full outers are, more drag, worse shifts and i don't really believe you get any better weatherproofing. Just clean your bike.

IME the shifting is better because there are fewer drag causing cable ends (with seals) if you run full length outer. And they're much more weatherproof I reckon based on my experiences in the past using both.

Which outer? Just whatever you can get at CRC – Transfil, Shimano are both fine.

If you've got cable stops try Gore-Tex sealed, NOKON or TransFil Mudlovers which have an inner which goes all the way from lever to mech… or drill out your stops and fit solid outer.

For solid outers I tend to run the cheapest of whatever I can get – but these do tend to split after a while (as do XT from experience). I'd like to try the Goodridge ones and maybe I will next time round… but they are a bit spendy when I've no idea how long they will last (I've not seen any long term reviews… only the glowing look at me new bits ones).

For solid outer on a frame not designed for them, I just drill/file out the stops enought to let a Shimano outer go through – Since Shimano gear outer is narrower than the stops, this doesn't prevent you reverting back to split outers if you're daft enough to want to 😉

Gore ride-on cables are worth it. They don't actually expose any cable but work with cable stops. Plenty muddy over here and no problems in 1 year of use.