[Closed] Shimano brake advice required for newbie

I think the only difference is that the internal routing version comes with the hose disconnected to save you doing that bit yourself when installing it. It will be fine to use with external routing, you just need to install the hose and bleed. That might be worth the £15 saving to you or it may not.

Thanks. So does the more expensive just need fitting onto the frame for it to be good to go?

If you were doing belt an braces, you'd perhaps need to trim the hose to appropriate length, but if not, you could use it out of the box

The more expensive one will work from the box but unless your son's bike is an XXL 29er there will be a lot of excess hose - to get rid of this, you'll need to disconnect, cut down to appropriate size, install a new barb in the hose then reattach to the lever with a new olive - you may also need to bleed it after doing this as well but it can be done without. It's not the hardest job in the world as long as you have the right kit (cable cutters, something to clamp the cable in to when putting in the barb, mallet, bleed kit), but it depends how handy you are.

You can always just run it with a really long cable though - won't harm the function at all, might just not look that neat!

So does the more expensive just need fitting onto the frame for it to be good to go?

Yes, unless you want to shorten the hose for a neater finish. Depending on the size of the bike there may be a lot of excess hose which can form a long loop at the lever end making it susceptible to catching on things. You can often get away with shortening without needing to rebleed, however sometimes you don't. In either case you will need a new olive and barb which will likely come spare with the brake or they are inexpensive to purchase.

Edit: What they said ^ I'm sure those replies weren't there a second ago!

Repacking slightly, bike frames are different sizes and need different length hoses. Brakes aren't sold with different length hoses, and differnt shops may price differently too - there isn't really a standard price for bike bits as almost noone tries to sell for RRP. Compare discounts on hydraulic disc braked 5800 105 groupsets between Ribble and Merlin this week if you really want to blow your mind on this. There was about £200 difference for the same package between the two shops last time I looked.

An externally routed cable that's too long looks a bit wrong but also presents a snag hazard. Usually it would be expected that shortening the hose is part of installing the brake, and Shimano include instructions, an olive and a barb for this purpose. Internally, I suppose you could jsut stuff the spare cable into the frame (at least some of it) but I'd expect rattles then. Realistically it wants shortening a bit too.

More basically, you mention your son's old brakes were 'old XT' but you don't state a model - all shimano brakes changed a few years ago, and there are some older XT still kicking about with a completely different lever shape, lever feel and braking curve to the current models. If the brake you're replacing has a lever body that looks quite like the M7000 SLX you're considering then no worries, but if it looks more like [url= https://goo.gl/images/MgG3cr ]this[/url] then I'd recommend buying a pair of replacements simply because the new brake is going to feell so different to the old one.

Low cost Shimano / around £18.99

Shimano Deore M447 Disc Brake Caliper

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-deore-m447-disc-brake-caliper/rp-prod119952

out of stock at chainreactioncycles. But you might find them somewhere else.

Use these on one of my mountain bikes. Resin pads only allowed.
Biking in "hills": they are great
Wouldn't recommend to use them in the Alps for 1000 m downhill. They might suffer a heat collapse.
But for "around the block" home trail riding no problems so far!