dazc

Got some hydraulic discs on my mountain bike. Trouble is they are on the wrong side for me, ie Front brake is on the left.

Have a feeling I will kill myself with this setup, so I want to swap them across. Looks a straight forward enough job, just undo the thread that goes into each brake lever and swap them over.

Do I have to use Shimano mineral oil, or is any mineral oil ok from a bike shop? And can I mix the shimano oil with whatever I buy just to top up the resovoir?
How much would I need, seems to come in either 1 litre or 50ml !

New bike, just want to be cautious.

Cheers, Daz

Brother_Will

www.singletrackworld.com i am a qualified bike mechanic but its late lol

Sticky Stuff

Not much help, but...

Get it done NOW. A Polish lad that sometimes rides out with us bought a new GT with discs. Now apparently (I don't know for sure!) european bikes, which he was used to, are the 'wrong' way round. Imagine 3 flights of steel steps coming down from a bridge, a small tap on the wrong brake, and four weeks off work!

I'd have thought that 50ml would be sufficient, looking at the size of the reservoirs. A litre would mean you (and all yer mates) would be set for life )

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Bit of a hijack but I am going to get some Hydraulic disks for my bike as the cable ones are poo (Tecktro), I have been told Hope are the ones to go for, will start by getting the front done, local bike shop quoted 180 quid, this includes a new gear selector as its a combines unit, halfords quote 140 for the same, that being the basic Hope (Mono Mini) so I was wondering whether it will be sufficient, I am about 16 stone and over 6 foot.

The cable ones just get hot, stink, squeal, the cable stretches and no ammount of adjustment can put any power into the braking.

Hope do others such as a four piston M4 and a 6 piston Ti and I was wondering whether its worth spending the extra, we generally just go off road and are prone to launching down big hills but nothing too intense, but we dont just potter down bridalways.

ChrisB

What size disc rotor is it J4cko?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

160 mm

Ennoch

What forks are you running? I would say that you should go for a 180mm on the front minimum. Also, I would stay away from hope. They are awesome when they work, trouble is that they don't work consistently and you either get a good set and have no probs or a bad set that'll never work right. I would advise you to look at something like shimano's or Avid's. hayes are good too and can be found pretty cheap on places like www.chainreactioncycles.com. If the hayes then go for the mag's, they are definitely superior to the HFX9's. 6" discs will be fine with the hayes.

If you have your heart set on the hopes then go for at least 180mm as they struggle to cope with heat...which I daresay will be in plenty of abundance when being dragged down a hill! Porbably the Mono4 would be best with the 180mm disc. There is no need for the 6 pots...most downhillers I know who use hope use the mono4 rather than the mono6 as all it adds is an extra set of seals to fail. and from a sumemr of riding in europe...they still fail and fade with heat.

I would say either 185mm Avid Juicy's, 6" hayes mags or 160mm Shimano XT brakes. Shimano are good and will just work but are perhaps a little down on power over the other two. My choice would be the juicy's. Been using them this season on the race bike with no bother... the tri-align caliper allows easy setup without rubbing too.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Ennoch, many thanks for that, very comprehensive, I will start pricing up alternatives.

dazc

Right then, got 50ml of Shimano mineral oil on order.

How easy are hydraulic brakes to bleed. Anything I need to know, ie pumping the lever etc? Is it easy to get air trapped. Do I fill the resovoir to the brim before I put the lid on?

Anybody?

Daz

sym

http://www.mbuk.com/grimetimedetails.asp?id=16
Above link has a guide on how to bleed your disc's.


If you running a hydraulic system then you should be able to remove the hose from the lever and attach to the other lever without needing to re-bleed. I have managed this on a pair of Hope Mini's(Which I swear by) with no faults.

r32

You will only need the Shimano oil if they are Shimano brakes, you didnt mention the make........
They are easy to bleed, just do it like you would a car, be careful and dont spill the fluid on the cali[er and pads, the proper Shimano brake bleed kit (25 to 30 quid) bleeds back from the caliper to the lever but you dont need that.

J4CKO, Hope are very good and generally reliable, but Mini Monos (look superb) do seem to have a history of sticking pistons making the brakes drag, mosy of the guys in our MTB club have suffered this. I took mine off swapped them for Shimano XTR, they will work with standard rotors, might need to use a front caliper on the back though but work well and are reliable.

dazc

Got a 50ml tube of Shimano H/oil, took about 10 mins to sort. They are shimano brakes, forgot to mention. Disconnected hose at resovoir end, (left lid on to stop fluid leaking out) swapped hoses over and then topped up fluid.
Much better now they are on the right sides. Superb brakes too now they are bedded in.
Daz

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I've got Hope XC4's on a titanium framed bike and they work well..........now.
(I'm 5 foot 8 inches and 12 stone).

I HAVE had trouble with squealing from the front, and have had to replace both split pins that secure the pads, with stainless ones, and paint the metal parts of the pads to stop rust.

This summer I've put some Pace rigid carbon forks on, and had to re-bleed the system after extending the hose slightly. I managed to snap off the banjo at the lever end, but a local bikeshop sourced one..............not cheap though.

I've heard great things about all the Shimano hydraulic systems, the best one for effectiveness against price seems to be the XT set up.

For good deals on bike bits, try www.chainreactioncycles.com.

Alcazar

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Its bad news when you snap your banjo.....