|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
||||
|
||||
My training as a wrench is about done, I shortened my hydraulic brake lines.
I have to say, trimming my own hydraulic lines always scared me and I did it in the shop. For years--decades really--headsets installation and removal, disc brake installation and wheel building were the final things that sent me running to the shop. Over the last few years I've built wheels, bought a headset press, and finally this morning, I shortened my own Shimano disc brake cables. I'm very proud of myself, how much are mechanics making these days, more than historians?
__________________
Friends don't let friends ride junk! |
#2
|
||||
|
||||
Hydro or cable?
Title said hydro - you got them bled, too? If cable, tough to adjust, so good on you. BK
__________________
HED Wheel afficianado Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter. |
#4
|
||||
|
||||
It's one job I'm too frightened to try myself. I've got a bike with a front line that probably needs shortening but I don't ride it enough to justify getting a shop to do it.
|
#5
|
||||
|
||||
I've stayed with Avid hydros because I could shorten hoses and bleed the lines.
DOT fluid is a pain because it will remove paint. Have a set of new Shimano that uses mineral oil in the bin for the inevitable need to replace old Avids or now SRAM.
__________________
Dean Colonel, TurnerSultan,MootsMootoXZ,Dean elDiente |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Which special tools did you actually use?
The one to press the new end in? Wheel building is the one I have avoided. I just find that a built wheel and a well built wheel are not the same thing.
__________________
Quote:
|
#7
|
||||
|
||||
For some reason I thought you were some kind of surgeon... I figure this would be easy compared to that!
__________________
And we have just one world, But we live in different ones |
#8
|
||||
|
||||
No previous hyrdo brake experience... and I was able to install the Shimano R685 hyrdo/mechanic brakes... cutting and installing lines, adding mineral oil, bleeding lines.. all went surprisingly smooth. There's not a lot of how-to online right now.. but I bet that will get better soon. I don't think working with hydraulic brakes is beyond anyone who is comfortable doing other mechanical bike things.
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Do you recommend the fancy bleed kits? There is a relatively cheap Shimano kit on Ebay/Amazon that has syringes instead of a bag or cup. There is a also a SRAM pro bleed kit for their systems. Did you have to buy spare olives?
I'm going to have to shorten both RS685 and Force22 Hydros on a couple of new builds. Having just built 2 sets of wheels, Shortening/Bleeding Hydros was also on my mechanic aptitude list.(Though I've done it on my car a few times) Next will be overhauling MTB suspension. Last edited by foo_fighter; 07-02-2015 at 07:09 PM. |
#10
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
|
#11
|
||||
|
||||
So this was a XT MTB hydro brake, and I have a bleed kit that I bought with the brakes, but I didn't have to use it in this case. I watched a bunch of different videos and kind of freaked myself out over it, folks go from the banjo end at the brake, and they say tons of fluid will spurt out when you cut. I did not find this to be the case. This was the video that gave me the courage to try, and my experience reflected his pretty much to a T. I cut from the lever end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDq44SCMygI The brakes came with the yellow two piece cable holder, a replacement olive, and the press in. I used my Park cable cutter, a vice, an 8 mm spanner wrench, and an ice pick to round out the cut cable and to start the little press in piece in, then I tapped it in with a rubber mallet. Very little fluid came out at all, and most of what did came from the cut piece of cable when i pulled it out. I tapped the cable when I finished to get any bubbles to float up to the reservoir, and the feel at the lever felt the same as before the procedure. Foo_fighter, you remind me that I am still terrified of overhauling MTB suspension forks. That will be my final frontier. I've built six sets of wheels and I they are all going strong. I used the standard books for research, and I'm not sure there is that much magic to it. My DT Swiss Tension Meter helps, but it feels pretty straightforward if you just follow the directions. Of course as a Clydesdale I only build 32 hole wheels on strong rims, so maybe its a question of how wrong you can actually go. If I were building 20/24 maybe I'd feel very different. I'm proudest of the offset 100 mm wide wheels on my fatbike, I was amazed when those became round.
__________________
Friends don't let friends ride junk! Last edited by DRZRM; 07-02-2015 at 08:15 PM. |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
We use something like this at the shop, its ridiculously simple, and most brakes don't need to be bled afterwards
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...3&category=217 |
#13
|
||||
|
||||
Quote:
__________________
Chisholm's Custom Wheels Qui Si Parla Campagnolo |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
My Shop charges $20 if a bleed isn't required and $40 if bleeding is needed. That's per line. Curiously, it cost me $99 to have all 4 brakes on my car flushed...but there is only 1 master cylinder.
I think I'll pick up 2 bleed kits to make it easier, 1 for shimano and 1 for Sram/Avid. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Ive stayed away from this for the most part. The few times i did it, it took a long time and the jobs wasn't perfect either :/
Good on you! Its a very nice feeling to know you can fix most / all of the things on a bike yourself. Esp when so many other things today is throw away and buy new. Id really like to handy around cars but don't c that happening anytime soon. |
|
|