Has anyone fitted new brakes to their 5 29/alpine.

Why is the rear brake hose so long, I’ve measured my rear hose and its 160cm long making second hand brakes no good as the hoses aren’t long enough.

Can someone measure thier hose please just to make sure I’m not being a biff and measuring it wrong.

Why not measure along the frame to see what the minimum you would need is, taking into account front and rear loops? Rather than measuring your existing hose.

I just fitted new XT’s to mine and had to trim the hose. Not much mind, perhaps 200mm.

Ads678. The rear hose as it is looks as though it fits perfectly hence why I measured that. The only piece I couldn’t measure properly is where it runs through the rear swingarm.

Ads678. The rear hose as it is looks as though it fits perfectly hence why I measured that. The only piece I couldn’t measure properly is where it runs through the rear swingarm.

Ah fair enough. No idea then!!

Long bike, wide bars, large frame.

Same for me renton.

Why is the rear brake hose so long

Because it’s a long bike

Oh well. Will just have to buy new brakes then.

Or a hose?
(FWIW, the hose on a new XT rear is 1700mm)

I think you’ll need to buy a new bike

I believe the wheelbase on a 5 lengthens under compression so take that into account, there has to be some slack for the inevitable load while riding.

Yeah to increase the availability of used brakes you probably need a smaller possibly rigid bike;)

Why do you need to change em, if you must you may find the existing hoses may suffice ?

renton – Member

Why is the rear brake hose so long,

The lever and caliper are quite far apart.

Second hand brakes are still an option if you’re prepared to fit a new hose. Not a big job.

It’s not a big job but by the time you have bought a hose and bleed kit etc it starts adding up cost wise.

you missed the mental cost of threading it through the swingarm

Leave the hose in place ( proper pain to remove-refit) and fit your new / pre loved stuff too it .

Will shimano stuff fit formula hoses ?

No, mineral oil vs dot 4, different type of hose.

Ah shite.

How hard is it to thread a hose through a swing arm then.

Anyone got a good tip on how to do it ?.

How can one bike cause so many threads….?

How can one bike cause so many threads….?

It’s not the bike…………

renton – Member

How hard is it to thread a hose through a swing arm then.
Anyone got a good tip on how to do it ?.

1) When you remove the old brake, attach a piece of string, then leave it in place. Then, use the string to pull the new hose through.
2) If you’ve already removed the old brake, throw bike into sea, take up crochet

Actually it’s not bad on an Orange, even if you have- remove the rubber grommets, attach a weight to some string, poke it in at the frame end, it’s pretty easy to get out at the brake end.

Oh they mostly use the same hose for either mineral or dot fluid. You can’t be absolutely sure that OE will work for both- I’d personally bet money that it will. Or that it’ll work with your hose unions. But any aftermarket kit will be compatible with both, just because there’s no reason for it not to be.

Superstar’s hose kits are sometimes better value than OE, and are perfectly good. What brakes do you want to fit?

What brakes are you looking to buy? I’d personally by some brand new brakes, rather than secondhand.

It sounds like you’re after Shimano, so I’d recommend SLX as they’re every bit as good as XT, weigh the same, and feel the same – they’re just not covered in shiny fake metal plastic.

Here you go, first 10 second search, £89: http://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-slx-m675-disc-brakes-front-rear-set-58528.html

Bare in mind that you’ll need to thread the hose through the swingarm, takes me about 4 minutes to do. Old spoke, bent at an angle and some needlenose pliers.

EDIT: just seen you’ve asked about this, I’d counter NW above and say it’s pretty easy. Hell, I can do it with braided hoses.

Yep was looking at the slx as they seem like a good balance between deore and xt.

Oh and apologies if I’ve started a new thread not to your liking.

You don’t have to read it you know.

Bit hard not to when they’re every other thread.

I like it when you get stroppy because someone says something you don’t like. Can you do that bit now?