EU and UK brake lever setup

[JoeBlow]

I'm shortly expecting delivery of a new bike and I understand that it will come with the front brake lever on the left and the rear lever on the right i.e. not the UK standard. The brakes are Shimano MT501 BR520. Does anyone know if I can swap the whole lever over or will I need to disconnect the hoses? Information from another post suggests the latter. If so has anyone any hints and tips on the simplest way to do this to avoid having to bleed the system?

Before anyone says "why bother?" I am used to the UK way.

Al

 

[Mteam]

You cant just swap the levers over because the reservoir is on the top of each lever and if you just swapped thelevers from side to side, the reservoir would be on the bottom and the brake wouldnt work correctly (sram brakes are better in this regard as these can just be swapped from side to side), you need to disconnect the hoses.

simplest way is :-

1. rotate the levers on the bars so that the hoses are exiting in an upward direction (levers perpendicular to the floor, pointing upwards)
2. pull the little rubber boots off the levers and slide them down the hoses out of the way.
3. undo the nut holding the hose into the lever, do one lever then the other.
4. pull the hose out of the lever on one lever, then the other.
5. swap the hoses round and tighten the nuts/rubber boots

if you are careful, and dont "flick" the hoses about you should be able to do it without losing any oil orhaving to rebleed. If unlucky you'll lose some oil and will need to bleed them.

Takes 5 mins to do.

 

[Tim1023]

I live in Germany. When I purchased my Stumpjumper five years ago, I just asked my dealer (Hamburg's Concept Store) to swap the brakes over for me. Was absolutely no problem for them.

When you're spending that much money on a bike, it's perfectly reasonable to ask.

They have the tools and experience to do it quickly and cleanly.

 

[simonk]

Easy

 

[JoeBlow]

Brilliant. Not sure why I didn't get that when I googled.

Al

 

[KeithO]

Out of interest, what denotes you getting the bike with a non-Uk setup over a UK set up, as most bikes aren’t made in the UK, so wouldnt most of the bikes come as non-Uk as standard?

I have had CUBES for three to four years now and they all came as UK setup (unless this is something the bike shop does as part of them receiving them and putting them into their stock?)

 

[Mteam]

Out of interest, what denotes you getting the bike with a non-Uk setup over a UK set up, as most bikes aren’t made in the UK, so wouldnt most of the bikes come as non-Uk as standard?

I have had CUBES for three to four years now and they all came as UK setup (unless this is something the bike shop does as part of them receiving them and putting them into their stock?)

Bike is being bought from a german shop - they ship the bike with the levers the euro way round.

You get the same if you buy a YT.

 

[JoeBlow]

Out of interest, what denotes you getting the bike with a non-Uk setup over a UK set up, as most bikes aren’t made in the UK, so wouldnt most of the bikes come as non-Uk as standard?

A £1300 price difference. It wasn't a conscious choice and I have no idea why Bikester send them out this way. I suspect they are one of those buy in bulk, fast through the door without any added value type of retailers. I also didn't get the impression that they had knowledgeable experts on hand either but £1300 is £1300 and not a trivial amount to sniff at. The exact same bike at my local shop would have been £5299. I got mine for £3950. The disadvantages are not worth the £1300 price difference to me personally. Even if I take the bike in to be professionally set up I've still saved a fortune.

Al

 

[KeithO]

I bought a Cube for my daughter a couple of months back, from a UK retailer.
It came EU handed.

I’ve just gone into the garage as I’m admitting that I have just had to check what way my brakes are set up (Yes, I do ride them occasionally) ?

both CUBES are front brake right, rear brake left - both bought through the same UK dealer, so I’m sure they must have swapped them round

cor.......hope not knowing the brakes are round the other way havnt led to any accidents in the past!! ?

 

[JoeBlow]

I’ve just gone into the garage as I’m admitting that I have just had to check what way my brakes are set up (Yes, I do ride them occasionally) ?

both CUBES are front brake right, rear brake left - both bought through the same UK dealer, so I’m sure they must have swapped them round

cor.......hope not knowing the brakes are round the other way havnt led to any accidents in the past!! ?

I'm fairly sure UK retailers will change them round as part of their added value activities setting up the bike. Not sure how it it stands legally.

 

[cozzy]

www.whizzbikes.co.uk/ certainly didnt when they sold my dad an ebike. Came with euro setup. I was pretty appalled by this, selling a bike to an 80 year old with the brakes wrong. Even more so when they ignored my request to resolve it.

 

[Jackware]

You cant just swap the levers over because the reservoir is on the top of each lever and if you just swapped thelevers from side to side, the reservoir would be on the bottom and the brake wouldnt work correctly (sram brakes are better in this regard as these can just be swapped from side to side), you need to disconnect the hoses.

simplest way is :-

1. rotate the levers on the bars so that the hoses are exiting in an upward direction (levers perpendicular to the floor, pointing upwards)
2. pull the little rubber boots off the levers and slide them down the hoses out of the way.
3. undo the nut holding the hose into the lever, do one lever then the other.
4. pull the hose out of the lever on one lever, then the other.
5. swap the hoses round and tighten the nuts/rubber boots

if you are careful, and dont "flick" the hoses about you should be able to do it without losing any oil orhaving to rebleed. If unlucky you'll lose some oil and will need to bleed them.

Takes 5 mins to do.

When I purchased a bike from Germany with these brakes, I followed this same action plan and only needed a mini bleed to get the levers back to normal feel.

Syd demonstrates this at about 7 mins in;