That's it, it's decided, you want to ride a Paula . Great choice dude !

You have looked at the different possible configurations and you know which group you are going to use but you still have one question: Which peripherals should I choose for my cockpit ?

The cockpit is, basically, your handlebars and your stem.

The thing is that on either side of your handlebars there are your levers.

And your levers, they are connected to your brake calipers by hoses on the one hand, and to your transmission (unless you ride a SRAM AXS), on the other hand.

Didn't I lose you there? Come on, let's continue.

In times gone by, all these cables ran externally, along the frame tubes. This brought a lot of simplicity to the installation but created some problems:

Fitting saddlebags can be problematic because you risk obstructing the passage of a brake hose for example.

And then, since I'm talking about damage to exposed hoses, Matthieu has already burst one on a stone while falling (ridiculously) with a Gravel in external routing (the brand of which we won't mention).

Finally, last point to seal the fate of the passage of external cables: Frankly, it's not very nice.

And class is important!

That said, what is true on an aluminum Gravel with a carbon fork designed for fast and fun rides is not necessarily true for a steel mountain bike with a suspended fork, but, in the case of Paula, the external, we forget .

The cables and hoses that I mentioned above you can hide them entirely in your handlebars and your stem, before they pass through the frame and the fork. This is called an integrated cockpit .

Otherwise, you can route the cables and hoses under the handlebars before they enter a space provided for this purpose under the stem before entering the frame. This is a semi-integrated cockpit .

A picture is worth a thousand words, here are the two types of cockpits in photos: