While we’re almost certainly moving to stealthy, fully internally routed cables on our mountain bikes, one of the holdups to every brand adopting it is that holes in the upper headset cover allow water, dirt, dust, etc., to get into the frame. Considering the cables are then wiggling and twisting around in a potential slurry of contaminants, it’s no wonder some folks are weary of it.
The other approach, which is far more common on road/gravel bikes, is to run everything into the handlebar, then directly into the stem and through the steerer tube. While clean, it gets more complicated when you’re dealing with an alloy steerer tube on a suspension fork.
The new Sixpack Millenium ICR (Internal Cable Routing) stem takes a different approach, routing cables into a sleeve underneath the stem, with the entry point sealed off with rubber cable ports to block dust, dirt, and water from entering. It still lets you run cables (mostly brake hoses, these days) close to the bar and stem, so it works with the latest SRAM Stealth brakes .
It’s designed specifically for use with the Acros ZS56 ICR Headsets or Acros Angle-Headsets with an additional aftermarket compression ring (11.52.106R2-AM).
Other than the lower portion that hides the cables, there’s nothing proprietary or fully integrated. It’s available in 35mm and 50mm lengths, both with 35mm clamp diameter. Included split-spacers allow easy height adjustment of your cockpit, even after the ICR system is mounted. Just loosen the stem, pull it up, and add or remove the split spacers around the steerer tube. You could even just use the stem like normal on any bike, too, without using the cable ports and extra parts.
Included in the box are:
- 1x CNC-milled stem, designed specifically to optimize the HS cable routing experience
- 1x top cover
- 1x horizontal rubber cable router seal with 4 cable ports
- 2x split spacers for easy height adjustment of the stem (each 5 mm height)
- 1x head tube cover with seal, compatible with Acros ZS56 ICR Headsets or Acros Angle-Headsets with additional aftermarket compression ring (11.52.106R2-AM)
- 1x stem adapter for use with regular headsets
The stem is CNC’-mille’d from AL 7075 in Germany and comes in Midnight Black and Raw. The cable routing parts are made of glass-fiber reinforced PA (Polyamide) in cooperation with Acros.
