I’m considering a short-travel suspension fork for my gravel bike for some of the gnarlier courses I’ve raced and will race again. But I’d like to be able to swap back to my rigid fork (more than a pound lighter).
How much of a hassle will it be to disconnect, reconnect, and bleed the brakes each time? Any other things to consider? [**https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/components/forks/suspension-forks/rockshox-rudy-ultimate-xplr-fork-review/**](https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/components/forks/suspension-forks/rockshox-rudy-ultimate-xplr-fork-review/)
by Severe_Zombie_6338
4 Comments
I may be missing something, but why would you need to bleed it? Wouldn’t you just detach the caliper from one fork and bolt it to the other after you swap the fork? All you’d need to do is re-align the caliper to the rotor.
If you have to disconnect and reroute the hose each time, this is not going to work. The hose actually needs to be cut and a new barb and olive installed each time. You can probably only do this a few times before having to replace the hose.
Not sure how often you’d be swapping them, but it’d be a pretty big hassle having to re-bleed them each time. I think it’d get old pretty quick.
The XPLR suspension fork is not internally routed, so you would not need to disconnect the brake hose to install or remove that fork.
If your rigid fork *is* internally routed, just ignore that ziptie the hose to the outside of the fork leg where god intended it to be. Boom, no connect/disconnect/re-bleed necessary to swap the fork.
If you’re unwilling to do that… not only would connecting, disconnecting, and re-bleeding your brakes be a ***huge*** hassle (especially, given that you’re asking this question, I’m assuming you have never bled a brake before…), you’d only be able to do that a very small number of times (~3-5) without trimming the hose and installing a new olive&barb. Technically, you should be doing this *every* time… the olive is a crush-to-fit part when you torque down the compression nut, and it’s more likely to leak the more you remove and re-install the brake line.