Quantcast

Issues arising after bleeding Saints

MarkDH

Monkey
Sep 23, 2004
351
0
Scotland
Hey,

I was bleeding my Saints the other day, and while the bleed went fine, a couple of issues arose:

1) The fluid in the front brake had gone a dark murky grey colour, and even after the bleed, pumping the lever would bring small 'puffs' of grey muck into the main reservoir. The only reason I can think that might cause this is the front line was slightly worn after rubbing on my fork crowns for too long. Even so, it was only the black outer that was rubbed and I assume theres an inner liner, which it didn't get through to. There is no way the line is rubbed through enough to let fluid seep out. Anyone have any ideas?

2) The rear line had got crushed at some point between my fork bumpers and the frame, giving the brake a mushy feel, so I'm going to replace it. The description of a new hose says it also comes with all the fittings, and a tool to cut the line. Is this cutting tool any good or will it just mash it up, even though its not a braided hose? If anyone has used it and its a piece of cr*p, could you recommend the best cable cutter out of this lot for the money? http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=cable+cutters&x=0&y=0

Cheers for any help,

Mark
 

scottishmark

Turbo Monkey
May 20, 2002
2,121
22
Somewhere dark, cold & wet....
did you not learn after trying to fix your Hayes??

the murky oil is normal, unless you flush it completely out you'll never get rid of it........and even then it'll be back after 1 ride.

No idea about the shimano tool, but my parks are the best money i've ever spent on a bike thing
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
The cloudy stuff, will take a long time to get that all out, bout 3-5 consecutive bleeds. As far as a Cutter, I usually just use my Park tools Cable cutter for any line I have replaced. There isnt anything super special about trimming a brake line.
 

Castle

Turbo Monkey
Jun 10, 2002
1,446
0
VA
yeah the murky grey is normal just flush them like everyone else says, over and over again, I find the park cutters to work quite well, they also have held up in the shop and seem to keep a fairly sharp blade for some time.

I've also used one of those cigar cutters with the razor blade in them with success when cutting brake lines...

edit: best way I've found to install those lil press fitted hose fittings in the shimano lines is to take the yellow soft jaw clamps in a vise holding the brake line in between and use you finger to press them in while the vice holds the line nice and secure, you may also need to use a lil dead blow to knock them in completely occasionally, sometimes they go in no problem sometimes they are fussy...
 

RaID

Turbo Monkey
I just used a cheap "bike" cable cutter
and it did job perfectly on a set of goodridge lines (which are braided).
I could even cut the housing in few mm increments without any issues

personally out of those i think the BBB will do the job fine
you dont require the very high quality of the more expensive tools
unless youre a pro mechanic /bikeshop where they get used all the time
 

MarkDH

Monkey
Sep 23, 2004
351
0
Scotland
Looks like it'll be ok then, cheers. I was only concerned because the front fluid was manky while the rear was still nice and pink! Last time I bled my POS Hayes, I sucked a bit of the fluid back into the syringe and flakes of metal came with the fluid, I didn't want my Saints going the same way.

I suppose cable cutters are those kind of tools that you don't want to spend money on because you don't think you'll use them, but then turn out to be really useful. I might just go for the Park ones then, they'll last a lifetime so that fiver should pay for itself.

Cheers
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
The murky stuff is just seal grease that's been dissolved by the mineral oil. It's perfectly normal and won't affect anything negatively, except that lever response may not be as fast because the fluid will be thicker.

As already said, a number of bleeds will make this go away but it can take a while (ie. not consecutive bleeds, it takes usage time in between to dissolve remaining grease). Obviously it varies from brake to brake depending on how much excess grease was floating around inside it. But I have a pair of saints that are 3-4 years old now and the fluid stays clean.

Actually, the fluid seems to lose its dye or whatever after a while too because I've found that it actually turns clear eventually. Looks pretty cool.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
The park cutters suck. The Pedros is what you want. They are rebranded Felcos. Felco is the standard for cable cutters outside of the bike industry.
You won't be disappointed.
 
Aug 6, 2006
349
0
Denver, CO
The park cutters suck. The Pedros is what you want. They are rebranded Felcos. Felco is the standard for cable cutters outside of the bike industry.
You won't be disappointed.
word

I used to have some park cutters until someone at the bmx track borrowed them indefinitely. I purchased pedro's cutters shortly thereafter, and wished my park ones were stolen sooner.