My brother in law recently bought a Cube Ltd Pro. The bike has what I would call pseudo internal cabling. The cables go into the down tube just behind the head tube, then reemerge just in front of the BB from what looks like an externally welded on plate. The routing to both derailleurs is under the BB with a conventional cable guide thingy screwed into the BB.

His front derailleur cable has exploded, with the inner shattering out through the outer. I am pretty sure this has been because the derailleur cables are both routed to go down the same side of the head tube as the shifter, and so has put an unnecessarily tight bend in the cables.

I think I would re-route the cable to run around the head tube on both sides, but this will mean the exposed outers crossing somewhere on the downtube – I doubt this will be a problem, but can anyone advise?

I think the best shifting will be achieved by having a nicer bend in the outers and crossing the exposed cables, but if anyone knows different, please give us a shout.

Depends how the internal routing is setup, but yes, that should work, I always cross mine in front of the headtube and then the inners cross again on the downtube as the front mech always has to be on the left under the BB (looking from the riders position).

So as long as they can cross inside the downtube it should be fine.

That said, plenty of bikes are setup the other way around. Might need less tape on the bars so the cable can exit sooner.

Cheers for the reply!

I am pretty sure this has been because the derailleur cables are both routed to go down the same side of the head tube as the shifter, and so has put an unnecessarily tight bend in the cables.

I remember Evans describing a Pinnacle as “internal cable routing for the UK”. Now I get it…

Design sounds similar to my 2011 Lapierre (cables go into either side of the head/downtube, re-emerge out of the bottom of the downtube). I have it set up as you’re intending to (and as thisisnotaspoon does externally)- front shifter goes around the headtube and enters on the right, rear goes around and enters on the left, cables cross over inside the downtube and are correctly aligned as they come out at the BB.

Works perfectly, nothing inside the downtube to foul on and gives a really neat, rub-free cable set up at the front of the bike.