Sleek internal cable routing looks here to stay, with everything from aero road bikes to XC mountain bikes trying to tuck shift wires & brake lines out of sight. Now FSA adds a third semi-integrated routing SCR family to their ACR & ICR cockpits offering clean lines for all manner of road, gravel, and mountain bike cockpits. Plus, their new premium KFX lightweight MTB line-up gets filled out with more cockpit options.
FSA internally routed cockpit integration
First FSA released ACR, their fully internal Aerodynamic Cable Routing system for aero road bikes that kept every cable, wire & brake line out of the wind – from direct entry into the bar, through special stems and inside of a proprietary headset, directly into the frame. It makes for an undeniably sleek setup, no steering rotation limit & claimed drag reductions, but requires a specific frame & headset setup, so really will only make sense for OEM use.
Then came ICR or an Integrated Cable Routing system with new bar & stem designs that could accommodate up to 5 cables/hoses internally, making a worthwhile cockpit solution for sleek mountain bike setups.
Again, ICR requires a proprietary frame spec with an ACR or ICR headset, so it remains OEM only until the standard catches on.