I can find details about installing hoses from new on their website
I assume its the same process for shortening, and can you reuse the olive and insert? Is it better to shorten at the reservoir end?
any tips links? had a look on STW but only found re-bleed threads
ta..

You might be able to reuse the insert but not the olive.

Defo shorten at lever

If you’re buying cheap OEM shimano brakes you might want to bleed when they’re new.

here you go

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-to-shorten-brake-hoses

did one of mine last night, may need to bleed though, I think the key is not to drop the hose that’s still attached to the caliper 😳

and from the thread above this:-

With shimano its dead easy.

1. remove the pads
2. pump lever 2 – 3 times
3. carefully cut hose with a stanley blade at LEVER end
4. fit new olive and insert
5. screw up
6. open reservoir cap
7. push pistons back in with a ring spanner
8. refit pads
9. done

Not new style shimano with bh90 hose by any chance? The reason I ask I have a set of xts I now want to put on my dh bike but hose only fits upto 150 mm ish. don’t fancy a hose swap if I send you mine?

great answers all thanks
no sorry not bh90 hoses wyslwyg

New olive and barb

Carefully remove mc fitting, hard tug on hose to remove.

Cut hose with quality cable cutter fit new barb and olive. I use split yellow shimano held in mole grips and tap barb to hose with ball end hammer.

Should not need to bleed unless you grab brake lever during process.

Good timing. I’ve just wrote a complete guide to shortening Shimano brake hoses without bleeding your brake here:

http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/shorten-shimano-hoses-without-bleeding/

Let me know if it helps. 🙂

Your LBS should have new olives and barbs, not expensive, hardest part is getting the barb into the hose.

And make sure to nip up the hose join tight enough at the lever, being normally a bit heavy handed I though I’d best be extra careful and didn’t, luckily it was found out doing some test stoppies rather than out on the trails that my cable popped off the lever 😳

Can recommend the Epic Bleed Kit if you make the same error as me and need to bleed the brake after.

Alex@epic
Great guide as ever, nice and clear!

Thanks hydrophil. I hope it comes in useful.

I was about to write a similar post. …… I feel an afternoon in the workshop is in order.

Alex – your shortening guide w/out bleeding works a treat – two nice short hoses completed in under an hour last night – thanks a lot! BTW, your hose cutter works really well also and made the job a lot easier

Shimano brakes really aren’t that difficult, I was scared of MTB hydraulic’s after lots of faff on cars over the years, and thought as everything is so much smaller it would be harder, but really, it’s not.

I would recommend bleeding them whenever you shorten though, I’ve just shortened 3 hoses, and replaced one, the shortened ones (following advice in link above, and several places online that suggest a bleed isn’t required) had small amounts of air in the system and benefited from a bleed, the replacement hose required a full bleed.

Buy the shimano bleeding tool – it’ll be £4 well spent, the mineral oil is expensive, but what ya gonna do?

With the replacement hose, I just cracked open the caliper bleed nipple and pumped the brakes until some fluid came through, much as you would on a car, then, when I thought the caliper and hose were more or less full of oil (with some air bubbles still coming out), nipped it up, and using the shimano bleed tool, bled the remaining air out of the top, easy as anything, and nice firm levers now.

On the newer style brakes that use the bleeding tool funnel on the lever end, it’s so easy, and cheap to do, I don’t know why you wouldn’t to be honest, it’s a non job, and just not worth skimping on!

Edit:

I would also add, you can re-use the barbs, but they are a bit of bitch to get out, the olives you can’t re-use.

Also, be careful as there are two types of barbs and hose, see this thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shimano-brake-hose-differences

Be careful cutting the hose also, they’re quite tough, would probably recommend a proper tool, after stabbing myself in the thumb, and one hose deforming with a craft knife.

Just out of curiosity – how much slack should there be in the hoses around the head tube area when shortening?

In the article @epicbleedsolutions put up they look very short. I’m sure i read somewhere you should be able to turn the bars a full 180 degrees without the cables being pulled tightly.

how about if you are just changing side , from uk to continental ?

Only the rear really matters, as providing the forks aren’t compressed when you fit the front hose, the axle-crown won’t get any longer, or distance from lever to caliper change, just try holding it where you think it will sit, rotate the bars, and cut.

The rear, I just adjusted the hose so it sat nice all the way along (starting from the back), then tried it with the bars turned full lock either way so that it wouldn’t pull tight.

It seems sensible to leave a bit of a loop around the head tube area, no point making it too tight for the sake of it.

Guide looks good epic, I’ll give it a bash the weekend, as well as a shorten I need to swap for UK to continental, looks like doing the two at the same time.

Try this?

http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/shorten-shimano-hoses-without-bleeding/

EDIT: Ah sorry, already posted. I should have read the thread 🙄