So, I found a great deal on a 1×11 GRX groupset. Anyway, this is my first time setting up hydraulic road brakes and my first time with shimano hydro brakes. This is a brand new, never been mounted/installed setup. The one end of the line is already installed into the caliper. The other end looks to be plugged with a connector insert. I need to cut the ends off to install the brass olive and new connector insert, right?
by UnlikelyCash2690
7 Comments
Read Shimano dealers manual. It has everything you need in pictures
This is j kit stuff. You already have a barb in the hose and it’s sealed with a membrane. You can just install the hose as is and the force of the piston will pop the seal. But you’ll most likely want to cut the hose to length anyway and then you’d have to install a new barb
I think that’s a regular barb with a wax plug that you can theoretically just install and then blow it out by squeezing the lever
BUT
I have also heard many people heavily suggest that this is a bad idea, both to your bleed and because now you have the plug floating around in your system.
Fwiw, I would probably cut it off and replace with new barb and olive. Bonus, you can probably get your hose length better than whatever it happens to be right now.
I have never not been in need of cutting the hose anyway, it is virtually always too long for whatever you’re mounting it on.Â
As it is fastened at the caliper end, start by mounting and routing the hose all the way up, align your shifters, cables and whatever else needs adjusting, measure how it looks/fits/moves at the handlebars, then finally make the cut, install the barb and check if the shifter doesn’t have an olive in there from before. They sometimes do and double olives equals a very bad time.
If the lever is filled and plugged then the olive is already inside and you just need to firmly push the barbed hose in and tighten to torque.
Yes, you’ll have to shorten the non connected end and reinstall the metal barb and olive. They purposefully leave it long as ultimately the length of the hydraulic line depends on the frame and routing option. I like to keep an inch and a half of extra length past the insertion point in the shifter as it gives me a little more wiggle room with the barb pusher tool.
Unless you need the full length of the hose, I recommend cutting of the end with the pre-installed barb and using a fresh barb. The little seal is designed to break when installed. But it remains there flapping back and forth inside the hose. I believe the flap can sometimes stick like a one way heart valve preventing oil from flowing. I have felt this on multiple bikes that were built with these factory sealed kits. Cutting off the original barb and replacing it fixed the problem every time.