Just wanting to shorten my front brake hose and wondering how straightforward it is?

Also do you need any special tools and parts?

Cheers

i need to do this too mate. LBS told me it was a pretty complicated job to get right without the correct tools but i’ve read otherwise on the net. something to go inside the hose to stop you from crushing it and a sharp razor blade seems to be the ghetto method of choice. but as i said – no experience yet…

You’ll need a hose barb and olive, an 8mm torx, a 6mm spanner, some very sharp cable cutters or hose cutters and a bleed kit.

Disconnect the existing end from the lever caliper – unscrew the nut then pull- chop the hose to the correct length, stick the rubber bit and nut back on and an olive then screw in the new barb, slide the olive up to the barb, stick the hose back into the lever body and tighten the nut up to the correct torque. You’ll then need to bleed the brake is you’ll have let loads of air into the system.

use a PROPERLY sharp razor and there’s no need to put anything inside the hose ( in fact this may be counter-productive ).
get a replacement brass olive, and a new compression ( the black nut thing ) fitting may be wise too. you defo need the brass olive.
unscrew the hose, slide the nut down the hose PAST THE CUT POINT, cut, slide your new olive in, refit. done.
unless you’ve tried to drink the brake fluid you’ll likely get away without having to bleed.

If it’s the combined insert and olive as found on HFX, El Camino and Strokers (I think) then make doubly sure it’s very well pushed onto the hose. Pushing it against a bench was the method recommended to me by both Hotlines and the Hayes tech guy (both excellent at responding to queries by the way).

If it’s not completely seated then the olive won’t grip it and it’ll pop off and spray fluid everywhere… making sure that you need to bleed it 😉

I found just shaving the end of the hose a tiny bit with a blade helped to get it into the compression fitting.

Cool replies thanks all