I actually agree with you, but moreso on the maintenance and ease of replacement front.Duck! wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2024 9:29 pmDisregard groupset. Headset cable routing is quite probably the most phuqed-up design "innovations" the bike industry has ever invented. It's bad for mechanical cables (friction). It's bad for electronics (pinch points that can cut wires), bad for hydraulics (can kink hoses, blocking fluid flow), and just makes services that should be relatively simple processes a lot harder than they should be. It's just a plain dumb and potentially dangerous idea.
However my experience with Shimano disc mechanical has taught me the routing makes no difference. I've had the same groupset on internally and externally routed bikes and consistently got less than 3000km before a snapped RD cable on both. I've had a GRX600 groupset do the same. 2700km before the first snapped RD cable. The RD cables all snap at exactly the same place - it's a design fault (or feature) with the shifters.
External are much easier to change at least . I wouldn't buy an internally routed/headset cable routed bike. In fact I will never buy another cable/hydraulic Shimano groupset fullstop. Which is probably their intention. It's just another regular point of failure and it's a pain when it happens.