I have looked at the routing on the Firebird and Switchblade very closely (I wrote a piece about it) and I'm going to strongly disagree with you with the caveat that I think everyone should buy whatever bike makes them happy.
Two things:
1) The bolt on cable covers are a smart way to silence internal cables without running internal sleeves and the issues that can come with them. I prefer external cables but baring that or making an investment similar to what Santa Cruz does I think Pivot is really smart.
2) I worked in a Specialized dealer - literally hundreds of suspension bikes with the housings all routed under the BB shell just from one shop - and have otherwise been around bikes a long time. I've never seen an issue with the under bottom bracket loop. Pre-internal routing I've seen a few crushed housings high up the downtube from tailgate shuttles but I am still perplexed where the idea that the under BB loop is prone to issues/damage comes from?!
July 15, 2017, 12:23 a.m. - Andrew Major
I have looked at the routing on the Firebird and Switchblade very closely (I wrote a piece about it) and I'm going to strongly disagree with you with the caveat that I think everyone should buy whatever bike makes them happy. Two things: 1) The bolt on cable covers are a smart way to silence internal cables without running internal sleeves and the issues that can come with them. I prefer external cables but baring that or making an investment similar to what Santa Cruz does I think Pivot is really smart. 2) I worked in a Specialized dealer - literally hundreds of suspension bikes with the housings all routed under the BB shell just from one shop - and have otherwise been around bikes a long time. I've never seen an issue with the under bottom bracket loop. Pre-internal routing I've seen a few crushed housings high up the downtube from tailgate shuttles but I am still perplexed where the idea that the under BB loop is prone to issues/damage comes from?!