Hydralic brake connectors

greasedscotsman
greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
edited March 2017 in Workshop
Want to change the bar tape on my Spesh, but wondering if I should cut down the brake and gear cables before I do it. As it's a new bike, they are a little long, but I'm also a bit unsure of my bar height at the moment. All the cables have connectors, so I'm wondering if it's easy enough to shorten the cables after splitting with the connectors and then reconnecting. I know this is easy enough with the gear cables, but I'm a bit unsure with the brake cables as this is the first bike I've had with hydraulic disc brakes.

Comments

  • Not sure about connectors for hydraulic lines, but I had to shorten my hoses that came with a GT Grade.

    A visit to the Shimano website for the dealer manuals gave me the codes of the olives and inserts I needed:
    http://productinfo.shimano.com/#/archive

    For me this meant:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Shima ... PNiP-VRIEg

    And some bits and bobs for the job:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-hydra ... SwpzdWsTm-
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Disc- ... SwjVVVm8~H

    A bit of youtube watching, such as...
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgz3EoteGRU
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COLd57jDvOE

    And I was able to stumble my way through it. Was annoying first time round, but it's really quite easy.

    Still annoys me how much bigger (i.e. longer) the hoods are though. To my mind it has quite a big influence on bike fitting.
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Hoses......

    Easy to do, Shimano even have a bleed free technique, in summary you take the wheel out and squeeze the lever a few times to push the Pistons out a bit (not too far!) shorten the hose and fit the barb and olive, then push the Pistons back slightly until fluid starts to appear out the end of the hose, then refit to the lever and push the Pistons all the way back, that should expel any air in the lines and master cylinder.
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • Thanks for the replies. Looks much simpler than I first thought. Might have a got at it myself, rather than take it to shop.
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Why not, worst case is it needs a bleed and you pay the shop to do that after you've finished.
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.