Brake swop and hose flushing

[chris f]

Hi Guys

have any of you changed brakes but kept them same hoses .
I am thinking of changing my levo sram brakes to magura but fully understand that the fluid used is poles apart . Can the the original hoses be used after flushing out with something as i have watched the Yorkshire bike mechanic on YouTube and it looks a big job motor out ect .

 

[Gary]

Barbs/olives and connectors are also different.
Dropping the motor isn't particularly difficult. If you do decide to do it just make sure you have all the tools required, take your time and pay attention to what goes where for reassembly.
But you might actually be able to chase the new hose through by connecting it to the old hose with a reverb hose connector tool. I've done it this way on one Levo.
We all have different tastes but I hate magura brakes. Both to work on and to use, horrible lever ergonomics and stupid plastic bleed ports.
What SRAM brakes do you have and what don't you like about them?

 

[chris f]

i have the Guide re 4pots nothing i dont really like about them i suppose just the reputation and reviews of magura that are tempting me .

 

[2WheelsNot4]

I think you would need to know what the different fluids that went through thew hoses. Were they hydraulic and synthetic ?. OR both synthetic, in which case of the latter you probably wouldn't need to flush anything through.
If the former some sort of cleaning fluid i should think then blast through with compressed air till you are positive its 100% clear.

 

[Gary]

Yeah. The Guide RE is a good brake if you look after them. Magura's MT7s are more powerful but can be finicky to set up.
If you get on with Maguras chunky lever blade shape I'm sure you'll be happy. I'd try them before buying though as it's quite a different feel to Shimano or SRAM lever blades.

BTW SRAM's RS or RSC levers additional swing link is quite an improvement in power, control and feel over the low end Guide R lever the REs use.

If I was spending that sort of money on new brakes my first choice would be Hayes Dominion A4s. lovely lever feel and bags of power and a great system for bleeding. Their only real downside (as with Magura) is that pads are far less commonly stocked in shops. so stock up on em in advance.

 

[StuE]

Yeah. The Guide RE is a good brake if you look after them. Magura's MT7s are more powerful but can be finicky to set up.
If you get on with Maguras chunky lever blade shape I'm sure you'll be happy. I'd try them before buying though as it's quite a different feel to Shimano or SRAM lever blades.

BTW SRAM's RS or RSC levers additional swing link is quite an improvement in power, control and feel over the low end Guide R lever the REs use.

If I was spending that sort of money on new brakes my first choice would be Hayes Dominion A4s. lovely lever feel and bags of power and a great system for bleeding. Their only real downside (as with Magura) is that pads are far less commonly stocked in shops. so stock up on em in advance.

CRC have these on offer, do you know how the "J unit" brakes differ from the standard brakes (which are out of stock anyway )

Hayes Dominion A4 J-Unit MTB Disc Brake | Chain Reaction

Hayes Dominion A4 J-Unit MTB Disc Brake - Lowest Prices and FREE shipping available from The World's largest online bike store - Chain Reaction Cycles

www.chainreactioncycles.com

 

[militantmandy]

Personally, I would not use hoses for DOT fluid brakes with brakes that needed mineral oil.

I also wouldn't bother with MT7 and would go for MT5. I'm not convinced the are worth the extra money. As above, Magura can be both tricky to bleed and to centre calipers. However, they are still the best, most powerful and consistent brakes I have used. My current set went 9 months before they needed bled and even then a quick lever bleed on rear and they are back to being perfect. .

I honestly don't understand why people complain about the plastic lever body. I have had probably 6 sets of Magura across different bikes of mine and my GF and have never had a single issue related to this. Just don't brutalise things and it'll be absolutely fine. Lever ergonomics are pretty personal. I use the big lever on the MT5 as it offers even more power, but the smaller (HC1) lever definitely has a more positive and solid feeling bite and is still very strong. It's very easy to swap the levers out should you want to.

 

[CJaMTB]

Agreed with above, I would never put mineral oil through a DOT system and vice-versa. DOT fluid will destroy mineral system seals in a week and mineral oil will swell DOT seals and render brake inoperable. I'd do what Gary said and use the SRAM hose connector, to pull new hoses through, though I would thoroughly flush the DOT hoses first.

 

[Marksou]

The Yorkshire Bike Mechanic on upgrading to MT 7 on a Trek Rail -

 

[StuE]

I'm using a deore lever with a Magura caliper and it's much better than the full Magura system

 

[CJaMTB]

I'm using a deore lever with a Magura caliper and it's much better than the full Magura system

I've heard good things about the 'Shigura' setup, not tried it myself though.

 

[Gary]

CRC have these on offer, do you know how the "J unit" brakes differ from the standard brakes (which are out of stock anyway )

J- unit are the junior brake for younger riders or riders with small hands. I think the only difference is a shorter narrower lever blade. You "might" actually prefer a smaller lever. But you'd probably want to try both back to back to make that choice.

I honestly don't understand why people complain about the plastic lever body

let me explain.
Personally I find magura lever blade too chunky and a horrible shape no matter where you position it or whatever reach its set at.
And plastic is the last material a high end brake manufacturer should be making bleed ports from.

 

[CJaMTB]

And plastic is the last material a high end brake manufacturer should be making bleed ports from.

Completely agree here. Have had several Shimano Ultegra levers written off, in the workshop, due to stripped threads in the plastic body. All replaced under warranty, but that's not really the point!

 

[militantmandy]

J- unit are the junior brake for younger riders or riders with small hands. I think the only difference is a shorter narrower lever blade. You "might" actually prefer a smaller lever. But you'd probably want to try both back to back to make that choice.

let me explain.
Personally I find magura lever blade too chunky and a horrible shape no matter where you position it or whatever reach its set at.
And plastic is the last material a high end brake manufacturer should be making bleed ports from.

Re the lever blades, that's 100% your personal opinion and of course I'm not going to try and tell you otherwise. Saying plastic isn't the right material is pretty arbitrary though. In my experience there's no appreciable downside compared to alloy. Maybe my experience differs from others, but as I said I've had zero problems.

 

[militantmandy]

Anyway, not much point in arguing about it. If you've had bad experiences with something, then of course it's going to colour your opinion. For instance, my experience with hope brakes has been universally terrible, but clearly many people love them!

 

[CJaMTB]

My opinion is that of a professional bike mechanic who teaches professional bike mechanics for a living. When you've had several plastic lever bodies that are repeatedly returned under warranty, because the threads strip, it's relatively easy to form an opinion on plastic lever bodies. That isn't a coloured opinion, it's educated and informed.

 

[Gary]

There's also a very good reason so few experienced professional bike mechanics regularly use bike forums.

 

[chris f]

Think i will stick with SRAM that are fitted

 

[Gary]

In my experience there's no appreciable downside compared to alloy. Maybe my experience differs from others

Haha..
the experience of one rider who' does an undisclosed amount of riding and has owned a few sets of brakes between themselves and their girlfriend is going to be far from vast. Particularly in comparison to that of a full time professional bike mechanic but I guess you've at least probably read the manual by now though?
See that part where Magura says not to tighten the bleed port screw any more than 0.5Nm? Why do you think that is?
And do you think every magura owner has adhered to the torque setting? (particularly if they've come from brakes with alloy bleed port threads).
Magura are arseholes for using plastic there. The bleed port screw is also a T25. Bearing in mind the most common T25 fixing screws being brake rotor bolts how lightly do you imagine most unaware owners are going to turn their big ol torx key?

Are you able to see any appreciable downside to plastic over alloy in this application yet?

FWIW most riders Shimano brakes (alloy) bleed port screw is massively over torqued. So much so that you find many which are rounded. And that uses a tiny 2.5 hex.

 

[militantmandy]

Just offering an opinion based on my experience. Your points seem perfectly valid, but the truth is that there are lots of happy Magura customers out there who don't wreck their brakes by stripping threads.

Anyway, I'm out. I was just trying to offer friendly advice.

 

[Gary]

And so were we. Then merely explaining the points we'd made that you said you couldn't understand.

It's no biggie. Trust me. Most brands bicycle brakes have flaws. Unless you had a hand in designing them theres no need to be put out by any of our comments.

 

[CJaMTB]

There's also a very good reason so few experienced professional bike mechanics regularly use bike forums.

A point I'm constantly reinforcing on our courses!!!

 

[Gary]

You sometimes need the patience of a Saint to re educate a keen cyclist/home mechanic who's gained their mechanical "knowledge" from forums, Facebook and YouTube.

Been there many a time too bruv

 

[ajbalfe]

Think i will stick with SRAM that are fitted

Stick on some Code levers (RSC) and leave the RE calipers. Easy upgrades, works really well. Night and day vs the RE levers.