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How easy is it to swap over the hoses and shorten them on the new Shimano XT brakes? Also will they need bleeding after doing so?
buying some from a certain German website?
I was wondering about this too...
It's very easy to swap/ shorten the hoses, I bought mine from Rose and everything was in the box. In theory you might not need to rebleed. I didn't lose a drop of fluid when I did mine but the rear brake needed bleeding (the front was/is fine though).
Remove the wheel but leave the pads in. Pump the lever til the pads meet. Trim the hoses (it's dead easy) then once the hose is back in place push the pads back to retract them and the brakes should work fine. No bleeding required
done my xt they were easy done a set of slx last night in 10 minutes...
no need to bleed and work fantastic
What do you need to cut the hose? I've just fitted a set and the rear hose is waaaayyy too long. And if you leave the pads in, isn't there a good chance of covering them in oil when you remove the hose?
The pads are at the other end from where you are cutting so you should be fine. If you really want you could cover the caliper with a plastic bag or something.
Use a sharp knife or similar
Doh! So cut the lever end then...kind of obvious now you say it...cheers Matthew.
Yup, the caliper end is crimped on. You need to make sure you've got a new insert and olive too. They should have been included with your brake.
I second what MatthewH says about pumping the pads in - it makes perfect sense and if you use brand new pads as a guide you shouldn't have too much difference in fluid volume between the two brakes (I think that's where I went wrong with mine).