bought the GF a new set of SLX as i'm pissed off with the flip-flop performance of the Avid Elixirs on her bike.
i need to swap over the hoses, thought i had some mineral oil in the basement but i don't.
save me a trip to the bike shop and tell me how to swap the hoses without having to re-bleed. (new brakes came with spare olives and pins).
1) buy mineral oil from a car shop (1l for about the price of shimano's 100ml)
2) be quick?
Tried it before, had to bleed afterwards. I believe it can be done. I just can't do it.
I managed it, but can't say I did anything unusual. Just keep the hose pointing up and cut clean & fast.
Leave the pistons as they are, Put the levers pointing upright, undo the hoses keeping them vertical, swap em over and do em up, push the pistons back to force any bubbles back into the lever reservoir and pump the lever..
It works most of the time....
Be very careful and maybe get a helper?
used this method:
worked on the rear, not on the front....
and my plan to put my "old" SLX onto the GF's bike and upgrade my bike with the new SLX failed when i realised my rear hose is too short for her FS frame..... 🙁
Personally I'd keep the avids. Bit more of a pain to bleed but I'm seriously unimpressed with my SLX and the customer service of Rose/Madison.
tom, with all due respect.... no. they are shite to bleed and IME not very reliable.
the good news is, i cable-tied the lever to the bar overnight and now the bite point is back to normal. wahey! and being shimano i can turn the bike on its head to change a wheel and upon turing the bike the right way up the bite point hasn't disappeared.