Cable-phobes rejoice, your cockpit prayers have been answered. This MCi Conceptbike from Magura has one of the cleanest cockpits we've ever seen with no handlebar cables and only the only visible cable on the bike being a front brake cable emerging from underneath the stem to route down the fork.
So, how have they managed this? Well, most of the cables are taken care of thanks to Magura's own wireless dropper post, the Vyron eLECT, and SRAM's AXS drivetrain. The brake cables are then hidden using Magura's MCi system.
We've first
learned about this system back in January 2019 with a bike that had 2 visible cables (if you looked very closely) but Magura have now made an even cleaner bike with a few updates to the system on this XC hardtail.
The MCi functions in the same way as a retrofit hydraulic clutch for motorcycles and uses a cylinder in each end of the handlebar that includes the piston and the reservoir. Cables are then fed down the handlebar and into the proprietary stem. The front brake hose drops through a hole in the stem and down the fork leg to the caliper, but unlike the last version of the concept we saw this time the rear brake hose doesn't route through the steerer tube and out again. It now travels alongside it and straight into the frame.
The upper headset bearing is oversized, which allows the cable to be guided between the tapered steerer tube and the bearing, then into the frame with a reducing sleeve providing a guide hole for the tubing. This type of routing does require an oversized steerer tube with room to fit a larger cup, but Magura say that this is already available in production from some headset and bicycle manufacturers. This particular frame was made by Müsing-Bikes with the prototype handlebar coming from BikeAhead.
The front hose now drops out from the bottom of the stem and the rear hose runs parallel to the steerer tube and into the frame.
What about maintenance? Well, the brakes can be bled from each end of the handlebar and the cables can be split using Magura's Easy Link that connects the cockpit unit to the tubing and allows them to be separated without oil pissing everywhere.
While this system does definitely make for a clean looking cockpit and, Magura claims, "better aerodynamics and greater protection for the hydraulic components", we can already see a few drawbacks. First, your brake levers are locked in place, Magura says it will set the lever angle based on "each bicycle model and optimized for the best possible seating position," but it's something we're sure a lot of riders won't want to lose; second, adding holes into components like a handlebar or stem probably isn't ideal, and finally, EasyLink or not, this definitely isn't going to make working on your brakes any easier.
So, will this system ever see the light of day or is it simply a COVID curio? Magura says this particular bike is "almost ready for serial production" and that they would be open to producing the system for OE manufacturers, however an aftermarket version is off the table for the time being.
newatlas.com/wireless-braking-for-bicycles/20150
So ya know, the cables are still there, they only hid them in the frame, a process which adds complexity to building and unbuilding the bike.
Truly, this is not really heading in the right direction unless you don't work on your own bike, have a skilled tech at your LBS, and you have money to burn.
I do my own tricks and I'm frugal, so this concept is a no go in my life.
"When your brake batteries die, you can too!"
Not sure how well that would sell, though...
guy: "does your bike still work well?"
me: "hell no, but poor shifting and leaky brakes is better than having to work on this thing"
guy: "facts."
Only time I've ever had to replace hose is when it's been damaged in a crash, or moving the brakes to a longer frame/fork. I hate to say this out loud, because some lizard company is probably going to think to themselves "we need to make more costly brake hose that is disposable and only lasts 2 years!" now, but brake hose tends to last a good long time.
None of this matters to any riders I know. I'll stick with the nice cheap cable systems.
Older geometry is also "dated" or "out of date", so the implication is that non-internal routing is old, and old is bad?
I again said "never internal". Then the Meta was stolen...
Again time and budget lead to a bike with internal cables. At least this time it was brand new Specialized Stumpy 27 2019, with the best internal system I've seen: each cable/hose gets a single plastic tube end-to-end, snugged up at each end and tied down in the middle of the downtube and through a gasket joining the BB/seattube to the chainstay. So replacement is just one-shot to push the cable through the tube. Still gotta bleed the brakes, but at least they're protected (I have broken external hoses from rock strikes), so, tradeoffs.
Also, truly cannot see any cable from head tube to dropout. I still hate the designs that let the dropper cable out for a few inches to go from downtube to seattube, or that route inside the rear triangle for just 6 or 8 inches, regardless of tubes-in-tubes.
Specialized's plastic TIT routing: thumbs up! Best internal routing system, by far. (Except maybe not the best possible for moto style brakes, because the headtube holes are asymmetrical...)
Well put!
But I really, really hope this type of thinking doesn't take hold in the industry in the future.
I want to be able to replace components at will. I want to adjust the angle (and placement) of my bar, and my controls. I don't want to have to buy new bars each time I want a new width (narrower).
But what do I know? I prefer external cable routing to internal for the same reason (ease of maintenance).
I’ll see myself out.
Likely the latter.
Not to change the subject from sexual innuendos, but I really do hate internal brake lines.
My fixie has NO visible cables or hoses.......your move (tbf it has no cables or hoses)
Me- Goddammit Magura, could your brakes be any more awkward to bleed?
Magura- Hold our schnitzel.
(Need I now be ashamed for owning Magura brakes- it does mean I helped fund this nonsense...?!? Maybe me running them as Shiguras is a part-redemption for my soul?!?)
Why doing that? Ultra simple internal cable routing (just feed cable from the bottom and catch them at the headtube, ultra clean look (no cable ports or splitters in the headtube area) and most important in my book, no more rattling cables in front of my bars or uggly tape and mcgiver zipping to make it quite...
Sadly it's not up to Magura to create such standards, but I really hope it will arrive one day
Because it can.
You know you would too.
look a electrical saw with electric brake
no juice ....the blade stop straight away
it not me but the CSA / security shit certification !
Me: Oh just bleeding my handlebars.
Didn't check your link. Please check it yourself and report back what you think is relevant.
Step 2(Solve it, expensively.