March 16, 2016, 7:32 a.m. -  AndrewR

#!markdown "Trek has taken a sensible approach to internal routing, leaving the rear brake line on the outside, along with a portion of the dropper line." Sensible words, I don't think anyone who actually works on their own bike, and I suspect most shop mechanics too, like internal rear brake routing. "It would be even cleaner if these ran along the underside of the downtube – but let’s not get too fussy" And now you have obviously hit your head on something hard whilst test riding, maybe you looked down at that GX drivetrain, not believing that it really wasn't XX1 at the wrong moment on the trail ;-). Possibly the silliest thing I have seen you write in the last five years. Bikes that have cables routed on the underside of the downtube where they get can hit by rocks and get damaged? This routing also tends to lean towards having cable loops under the bottom bracket that appear to attract sticks at a far higher rate than standard measures of probability would suggest. Back to being positive, good article. Looks like a fun bike to ride challenging terrain on. I find myself even more tempted to dabble into the 29″ world (nooooooo!!!).