Is it fine to hang bikes by their front wheel if they have hydraulic brakes?

I’ve done some Googling which tends to suggest it’s fine and that the thing about it letting air into the system is just an old wives’ tale. I did see one suggestion which was to put rubber bands in place to keep the brake levers on while the bike’s being stored.

Just thought I’d check on here to be sure.

Ta.

All ours are hung by the front wheels, mixture of XT and Saint brakes. Never had a problem.

Its fine if the brakes are properly bled, if you have air in the master cylinder reservoir, but not in the hose it will often end up in the hose, hence people have issues (on a brake that was previously “fine” when kept upright).

It’s perfectly ok to store them any way you want. The brake system is completely sealed.

Cheers. Thought that was probably the case but just wanted to be sure.

bigyan’s spot on, if your brakes go wrong when you turn the bike upside down or whatever, it’s not the brakes fault, it’s whoever bled them

Iv had differing experiences 4/5 bikes all hung by front wheel

The deore disc bike always feels like the pads / pistons have krept back the levers are soft and pull to the bars a few times then they are”normal” again and work fine.

Had another bike on older hope brakes and it really didn’t seem to be happy if it was stored like that the brakes would go spongy and need bleeding. Even properly bled with new pads fitted the situation was the same.

I spoke to a Hope rep at an event and he said they didnt recommend storing bikes like that as its very easy for air to travel upwards in the hose to caliper.

Sons bike is on Avid elixirs ok they can be a bit hit or miss but they really dont like being hung up like this.

full sus bike on XT doesnt seem to be effected at all, can leave it like that for yonks, grab it and go and never an issue.

I expect most folk will tell me my brakes are badly bled etc but just giving real world experience.

See how you get on………….

Never had an issue with mine and they all behave the same as if vertically stored

It’s actually a good thing to do.

hang the bikes up and stick an elastic band around the lever so any air can make its way up to the lever / reservoir.

Unless the caliper is at the highest point in which case the air will travel ‘up’ to the caliper….

i started hanging mine vertically and the rear brake went soft, but since I’ve never bled it (even after shortening the hose) it wasn’t a surprise. Quick bleed and it’s all good now.

You need to think about which way you hang them and how the reservoir is designed.

The Hope tech 2 eco lever for example, was a flip/flop design. The piston was to the rear of the lever with the reservoir out front. The Tech 3 by comparison, has the reservoir sat on top of the piston.

There will always be a little air caught under the flexible diaphragm under the cap but that doesn’t matter in normal use so long as the transfer port between the piston and reservoir remains submerged under the brake fluid.

If you hang a Tech 3 equipped bike by either the front or rear wheel, that transfer port which was at the bottom of the reservoir is now half way up. With a half decent bleed, not an issue.

With the Tech 2, it’s a slightly different story. The transfer port is half way up in normal use, it has to be because of the flip/flop design. Hang the bike by the front wheel and the transfer port is effectively at the bottom so no problem. Hang it by the back wheel and your port is now at the top so it only needs a little bit of air in the reservoir to be able to find its way into the piston bore and beyond.

Tying the lever back moves the piston and seals off the reservoir so it then doesn’t matter what you do.

The other consideration is what your fork oil does. It can be beneficial to hand them by the front wheel as its a chance to soak the top bushing.

Wow, that’s a lot in a phone!