I'm planning on a Hope rear brake to match the front one but my bike has internal cable/hose routing - any top tips to aid fitting the thing?
Yes, the old string and vacuum cleaner trick is very useful for pulling hoses through a frame. If you haven't already heard of it, you simply push the end of a length of a piece of string through the internal routing port, attach a vacuum cleaner to the opposing port and this will suck the string through. All you need to do then is to tie the end of the string to the brake hose and pull it through the frame.
Or put the sting through when you pull the old brake out.
Be prepared to bleed the brake once your done
I'd do what Mike says and use the old to pull the new through. Unless it's like my Sick which has a lovely tube for the internal routing which means you can't go wrong.
I like the vacuum cleaner tip, very handy! Its a Whyte 901 by the way.
Bleeding is no problem. is it preferable to drain all the fluid out before starting the job?
No need to drain the fluid, All you're looking to do is to ensure that there are no air bubbles in the hose and calliper.
Or just re-use the hose that is already there. Replace the caliper at one end and the lever at the other.
Or just re-use the hose that is already there. Replace the caliper at one end and the lever at the other.
Only works if the hose is the right size, and would need a full flush if it's not had Dot fluid in it before
Sram brakes so proper fluid, non of this mineral snake oil stuff. Interesting shout to keep the existing hose though.
Use the dual ended barb tool that comes with a reverb stealth to connect the old hose and new hose together. If you haven’t got one, check with your mates someone will probably have one
Sadly I don't have any friends so I've just ordered one of those barb tools from Amazon 🙂