Hydraulic hose connectors and olives

Cave_Dweller

I need to shorten my hoses on my Shimano brakes and I need some new olives and hose connectors to fit onto the newly cut piece of hose because the old ones have obviously been squashed onto the old piece I need to cut off. I'm shortening the hoses up at the lever.

Are these parts manufacturer/model specific or will any olive and connector be ok as long as they are the same size? I know how to do the job, it's just getting the right parts I'm concerned about. My brakes are these exact ones in the picture below. The came on my Scott Ransom as standard back in 2008.

sorry for the poor picture, stole it off google.

nicklouse

They are generally made model and year specific.

Have have mixed and matched some when short of gone correct ones bug I would get the correct ones.

Cave_Dweller

ok cheers. Should my local bike shop be able to source the right ones? I've tried looking on Ebay but none of the adverts give what model/year they are for.

02gf74

the olives a 5 mm diameter. different manufactures use different olives; shimano are made of brass whereas avid are not (think they are aluminium) and are longer too; formula are longer as well.

Note that a too short olive may result the hollow bolt bottoming out but I have use the shorter brass olives on avid and formula umal without any problems.

If you are local, then pop round and I can give you a couple of the brass olives (I have them in 2 lengths - shorter ones will be ok for shimano, the longer ones for all other brakes).

benpinnick

AFAIK Shimano olives are all the same, but your brakes(being the old ones) will also need 'old' inserts. I have a feeling that the old ones were brass and the new ones silver... but don't quote me on that.

Cave_Dweller

02GF74 wrote:

the olives a 5 mm diameter. different manufactures use different olives; shimano are made of brass whereas avid are not (think they are aluminium) and are longer too; formula are longer as well.

Note that a too short olive may result the hollow bolt bottoming out but I have use the shorter brass olives on avid and formula umal without any problems.

If you are local, then pop round and I can give you a couple of the brass olives (I have them in 2 lengths - shorter ones will be ok for shimano, the longer ones for all other brakes).

Cheers but I'm not local. I'm based in south Wales but travelling up to the Highlands for two weeks next week for a nostalgia trip to my home town.

Cave_Dweller

benpinnick wrote:

AFAIK Shimano olives are all the same, but your brakes(being the old ones) will also need 'old' inserts. I have a feeling that the old ones were brass and the new ones silver... but don't quote me on that.

That's probably what my local bike shop was on about when they said Shimano changed the design. I have seen both silver inserts and brass ones in some adverts, that's why I wasn't sure what ones to get.

ride_whenever

Shimano have one olive and two barbs, I suspect you'll need the older barbs which are brass rather than the BH-90 olive and insert which is steel (I assume as it's silver)

you want this one but it's out of stock. Although if you want to be sure then pop the hose off and check what colour the insert (not olive) is. Brass means shimano universal insert and silver means you need the BH-90 one.

Cave_Dweller

ride_whenever wrote:

Shimano have one olive and two barbs, I suspect you'll need the older barbs which are brass rather than the BH-90 olive and insert which is steel (I assume as it's silver)

you want this one but it's out of stock. Although if you want to be sure then pop the hose off and check what colour the insert (not olive) is. Brass means shimano universal insert and silver means you need the BH-90 one.

The date they get more in is when I go away . I've ordered some from Tweekscycles after a quick google for the part. There wasn't a picture but the description said it's universal so I'm hoping it's the brass one like you mentioned. I took off the hose and it's a brass insert my brakes have, so hopefully I have ordered the right one. If not then at least there is a bike shop where I'm going on holiday and I know the owners well so I shouldn't be stuck without a bike. I'm not keen on riding it at the minute because my hoses are flapping around like a yawning hippo.

ride_whenever

In my experience most of the old brakes use the universals so you should probably be fine.

bikaholic

In an old thread, I demonstrated how to re-use a barbed insert by cutting it out of the hose.

As I explained, you can use generic brass olives too provided that they have a similar internal diameter and roughly a similar outer shape.

They are compression fittings so a 5.5mm ID olive will work on a 5mm hose, but a 6mm ID olive won't (it won't fit inside the shroud nut). A 5mm ID olive will work on a 5.5mm and possibly a 6mm hose if you sand down or strip away the outer cosmetic layer of the hose material.

The above picture shows the generic olives that I use on most hydraulic disc brakes with 5mm hoses. However, there must be a "step" inside the lever when you look into the hole where the hose enters the lever.

Long olives (think of a long cylinder travelling into another cylinder, the shroud nut) will self-center themselves better than short round ones when compressed onto the hose. But, the simple action of greasing the olive and maintaining an inward push on the hose whilst tightening the shroud nut will keep it straight.

The stainless steel barbed insert, I believe, was introduced to accommodate the harder and stiffer internal hose lining of the current Shimano brakes.

Incidentally, the Shimano reps do read forum postings as some of their recent tech docs (2011 onwards) incorporate little tips and tricks that were first published on internet bike forums - maybe not on BR but definitely on mtbr and others they do.

Cave_Dweller

Thanks for the tips. I'll know for next time but it will be on a set of Hopes. These brakes are just temporary for now until I upgrade all my spec.

cooldad

An upgrade would be new Shimano.

Cave_Dweller

What new Shimano ones would you recommend? I like a good powerful brake that feels very on/off. I'm not bothered about weight and I ride a mixture of everything. cheers.

cooldad

Deore/SLX/XT. Pick a budget.

The Rookie

Cave_Dweller wrote:

I like a good powerful brake that feels very on/off.

Most people prefer progression so they can get the best from their brakes under all conditions!