Last night while attempting to extract the rear brake from an Orange Five frame I somehow managed to pop a piston out of the caliper, spray all the brake fluid over me and the shed and generally make a mess of it.  The piston appeared to pop back in ok and so I moved on to attempt to fit it to the new (to me) frame. Turns out that the new frame needs a longer hose….luckily I had a longer hose on a set of identical brakes (that have dodgy seals) in the spares bin and so I just swapped the hose over (original banjo, mini seals, olive, insert, the lot).  I then bled the system twice (as a lot of dirt came out the first time) and tightened everything up.

I can’t see it leaking anywhere under pressure and there is little lever throw.  So, have I just been exceedingly lucky and the jobs a good’n or is this all likely to fail when I least need it to and end in a tragic tale?

Try it. You will survive. Probably.

If they are working and no leaks I would be happy to ride with them.  If they give up you will have a good crash story to tell your mates 🤣

You reused the old olive do you mean?

I literally just unscrewed the hose at both ends from the leaky brakes and then screwed it all back into the other set.  The olive is therefore still on the original hose but now tightened into a different lever.  Similarly the banjo connection is using the original seals.  I think my bigger worry is the popped and reset piston.

Don’t worry too much about the piston, if all seems ok you should be fine there and got away with it. I popped a piston on a set of deore brakes about 2 years ago and they have been fine since.

I’ve popped a piston on Guides before and just replaced then and not has issues.

I suppose with the olive if it holds pressure it’s “ok” though it’s a compression fitting and in theory could be dodgey in the future but who knows?

I have done a partial bleed of some Shimano’s in the middle of nowhere on the upper section of the Devil’s Staircase using water sucked from a camelbak and spat into the lever reservoir to top up the lost fluid.

Braking performance was restored and I finished the ride to KLL via the Ciaran Path no worries. The alternative would have been a very disappointing  walk.

I re-bled the brake that night though.

Thanks – a new olive sounds like a smart move then if that’s likely to be the weak link.

trout wrestler is bear grylls. where do I claim my fiver….

^^ Yeah, that in the field repair is pretty hard core! 😃

Yeah, that in the field repair is pretty hard core!

A real survivalist would have killed a passing bear with a penknife and used its blood as brake fluid instead of wasting precious water.

On the Tuscany Trail I had to resort to vegetable oil out of a tin of tuna. Brakes where fine for the remainder of the route. I also used the oil on the chain,made a mess but worked ok. Bled the brakes when I got home and bits of tuna came out. Still using them today!

Hmm. Fishy tale.

Bled the brakes when I got home and bits of tuna came out.

If you’d been using them properly, it should have been nicely deep fried.