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Specialized had to recall their flagship road bike because their through-the-headset cable routing system was causing fork steerer tubes to fail. (https://cyclingtips.com/2021/10/specialized-tarmac-sl7-recall/) That stands out to me as an example of how this additional complexity can lead to new and unexpected modes of failure--not something I'm eager to introduce on mountain bikes. If through-the-headset routing is going to be standardized--and I am praying that it won't be, frankly, because I think it introduces numerous disadvantages for the average consumer and few real benefits--then (IMO) what we really need is a new way of connecting brake lines to levers that doesn't...

Acros should never be allowed to produce any round moving parts again. Regardless of the internal routing bs.

Because Acros decided they like it and probably give huge discounts so bike companies use their shitty headset to save money but now acros had monopoly since you can’t just go and use another companies headset

For everyone saying it won't effect the lower bearing you are now introducing an opening in the headset and allowing "more" water to make its way to the lower bearing and sit on top of it. "More" because headsets are not perfectly sealed but I would bet there is only very very small amount of water making it's way through on a standard head set.

When it's well done (aka in like 2% of the time), it can work well and looks "cleaner" seeing as all the cable are integrated and hidden, you get no cable rub on certain parts and the entry point for cables do not cause a stress point for housing. It can also make the cockpit look less "busy" in certain cases. It is a clusterfuck for mechanics though, integration is usually meant to simplify things but in this case, no.... There have been cases of cable sawing off steer tubes and such so I don't really see why it's necessary...

It works horribly on road bikes which have been doing their damn best to make it even more complex and prone to failure. Of course it’s the best thing to happen since droppers for the MTB segment…

Internal routing was also a terrible idea, but that didn't stop the industry from adopting it. Unfortunately, wide spread adoption of bad ideas seems the norm now.

iTs MoRe AeRo says a guy that looks like an overstuffed bratwurst in lycra

The debate over the pros and cons of headset cable routing has been covered pretty thoroughly on this thread, and it also doesn't exactly qualify as a "tech rumor," so I've started a new thread for those looking to discuss the relative merits of headset cable routing: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/The-Hub,2/Tell-me-why-headset-cable-rou…

plus it looks like cable routing through the headset XC bike maybe?

I was going to post the image for you, but its just another top tube shot with a stupid routed headset