This is odd.

kidwoo · Oct 17, 2005

You should take them to a bike shop and have them work on them.

AR_ · Oct 17, 2005

No point asking here anyway, you'll end up on how you should have brought Hopes and something about Avalanches by post 4..

Transcend · Oct 17, 2005

Ar_ don';t forget the obligatory mack shouldn't go near a tool post.

Count me in on this one, take it to a shop, don't touch it yourself.

offtheedge · Oct 17, 2005

AR_ said:
No point asking here anyway, you'll end up on how you should have brought Hopes and something about Avalanches by post 4..

There have been none truer, a statement typed on this forum.

You sir are a genius!

360 · Oct 17, 2005

actually if your very very careful you can do it without bleeding or new olives.

kinghami3 · Oct 17, 2005

360 said:
actually if your very very careful you can do it without bleeding or new olives.

do tell, I would like to hear this.

nixhexss · Oct 17, 2005

gustavs did not give me any problem when i first put them on. Granted I may have more wrenching experience than you (wrench @ shop), I was able to do it without new olives and without rebleeding them. The lines come in an dout of the lever body rather easily and it's not much of a hassle to do the work, it's very quick. Like someone else said just take your time, dont rush, be careful and you should be golden. But......take it to a shop.

OGRipper · Oct 17, 2005

Gustav's are the brake of choice for high-end tandems so they come with enough cable for that application. Not sure but that's one possible explanation. Anyway awesome brakes, good choice.

D_D · Oct 17, 2005

kinghami3 said:
do tell, I would like to hear this.

You can shorten the line on lots of different brakes without bleeding if you are careful.

Remove the line from which ever end is easiest.

If the fixing has an olive position it with the line long so it doesn't matter if you lose a little fluid.

Carefully cut the line with a sharp knife. The fluid should be flush with the end of the line. If you lost some fluid just cut again a couple of cm up the line until you get a good cut.

Carefully attach the line to the calliper/lever. You should now be able to use the brakes without bleeding since no air was introduced.

kinghami3 · Oct 17, 2005

I can see doing it without re-bleeding, but I would find it damn near impossible not to spill it or get any bubbles in there. On the other hand I lack coordination. I don't think there's any way I could have done my hfx-9s without spilling.

vitox · Oct 17, 2005

360 said:
actually if your very very careful you can do it without bleeding or new olives.

yea im at a steady 50% success rate with that technique

bballe336 · Oct 17, 2005

nice choice on the brakes! i am looking ot get a set myself. and what are these "olives"?

JTVW · Oct 17, 2005

offtheedge said:
There have been none truer, a statement typed on this forum.

You sir are a genius!

And none weirder use of commas, too!

oly · Oct 18, 2005

I'd just tie the lines in a bunch of knots to make them shorter....no olives or rebleeding needed...

knollybikes.com · Oct 18, 2005

We received a few sets like that as well. I think that they have the tandem lines on them instead of the normal lines. The first thing that I would do is call Magura USA and see what they say.

You should be able to do one of the following:

1. return the brakes to your vendor for ones with regular length lines.

2. cut the lines down yourself: if you're careful, you won't need to rebleed them. If you do need to bleed them, they are some of the easier brakes to bleed on the market, so it's not that bad a job to do. Read the "German translated instructions" carefully and you'll see that it's really not a big deal to bleed them. You can also go to the MTBR.com brake forum and ask someone there - there is strong Magura support in that forum.

They are AWESOME brakes.

Cheers,

Noel Buckley

boozy1976 · Oct 18, 2005

D_D said:
Remove the line from which ever end is easiest.

NEVER-remove the end of the line connected to the caliper...

and as everybody said you can do it without rebleeding when you're careful...
i would go for the rebleed kit for some future hazzles to come...
it has some olives and other spares packed with it...

i'm riding it in the 4th season now
no other brake!

PepperJester · Oct 18, 2005

well for the back brake on a DH bilke you will need pretty much 6ft of line.

konahucker43 · Oct 18, 2005

mack said:
I think i can do it without having to re blead the system. The manual says that you dont have to re blead the brake after shortening the hose, unless you spilled some oil out of the hose and the system feels mushy.

mack, did you get those where i pointed them out to you?

sinister37 · Oct 18, 2005

just get the bleed kit, i had the same problem and it was easy and painless, they have extra parts and oil so it's a good investment, also make sure you cut the line as flat as you can or it will leak. the kit is only 20 bucks anyways, but good choice best brake i've ever used.

lovebunny · Oct 18, 2005

you coulda done it sanjay stye and just take the extra line and make a loop and zip tie it to your frame

Metal · Oct 18, 2005

lovebunny said:
you coulda done it sanjay stye and just take the extra line and make a loop and zip tie it to your frame

This also works great when you have a rear brake, but need a front brake.

DROP · Oct 18, 2005

id keep the hoses long that way you don't have to worry about pulling the line while doing an x-up.

MikeD · Oct 19, 2005

DROP said:
id keep the hoses long that way you don't have to worry about pulling the line while doing an x-up.

I think that's a perfect topic for a thread in the freeride forum.

Ed: Anyhow, why would a tandem have a longer front line than a normal bike? Don't they typically run normal forks, either single or dual crown? Shouldn't a DH brake come with a normally-sized line for a DH fork?

MD

D_D · Oct 19, 2005

MikeD said:
Ed: Anyhow, why would a tandem have a longer front line than a normal bike? Don't they typically run normal forks, either single or dual crown? Shouldn't a DH brake come with a normally-sized line for a DH fork?

Since some of us have the front brake on the right side using rear length lines means they only need two variations. One with a LH lever and one with a RH lever.
If you have a short front line you need four variations. LH long, LH short, RH long and RH short.

This is odd.

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