Ridiculously long brake cables on your handlebars don’t just look a bit silly, they can also be dangerous. Catching them on branches is a risk that could damage your brakes. This tutorial tells you exactly how to shorten your brake hose so you can avoid broken brakes and chaos on the cockpit.
Mounting new brakes is surely the most popular upgrade you can undertake to boost your bike’s performance. ENDURO’s giant brake test in issue #015 saw the MAGURA MT5 brakes secure a dominant victory with their high performance and fair price. But when you’re upgrading your brakes, you often have to shorten the brake hose – and this is where our advice comes in handy.
Level:
medium
Tools:
MAGURA bleed kit
Hammer
Brake hose cutter
8 mm open-ended spanner
Anleitung:
Start by pressing the brake pads completely back and put some keepers in them.Take off the protective cover so that you can detach the brake hose from the lever.Using a 8mm open-ended spanner remove the sleeve nut and pulled out the brake hose.So that you don’t lose any brake fluid it’s a good idea to keep the lever upright throughout the whole process.Now with the help of a brake hose cutter, shorten it to the desired length. Make sure that it isn’t too short so that you can still turn the handlebars sufficiently.To get a good seal, use a new olive. First put the sleeve nut onto the shortened brake hose followed by the olive. Using the guiding block that comes in the bleed kit, put this around the hose and then clamp it – preferably in a vice, alternatively with pliers.Now place the insert onto the hose…… and then hammer it firmly into the tube.Now the hose can be put back onto the lever. Make sure that the brake hose is fully inserted before tightening. Grip it with two fingers and push it in. At the same time, use the other hand to do up the sleeve nut.Then use the 8mm open-ended spanner to fix the hose. The torque for this is 4Nm.Before putting on the protective cap, test the system for leakage and then head out!
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