In what state would you expect the hydraulic brakes to be shipped to the customer on a boxed bike?
I splashed out on the Black Friday deal at Merlin for a Felt VR40 road bike with Tiagra hydro discs. At less than half price it was too tempting to resist.
It was advertised as a boxed bike and I was fine with assembling it, understanding I'd need to attach the bars, front wheel, seatpost, adjust brakes and derailleur etc and confident with this.
I didn't factor in the hydraulic brakes. The gear cables were all fully connected from brifters to derailleurs. However the hydraulic cables are unconnected in the middle, with white plastic plugs on the ends of the sections attached to the levers. The lower cable sections are routed through the bike forks and frame and connected to the front and rear calipers and the cable ends are wrapped in tape. The front caliper is not bolted to the fork but wrapped in plastic and cardboard and taped to the fork. See photo (all I've done so far is unpack the bike and attach the bars to the stem)
So, are the plugs there because the fluid reservoirs have been filled and it's only necessary to remove those and connect the lower sections of cable? Whether the lower sections are empty, or if they're pre-filled with fluid too, either way I would guess the brakes would need bleeding as there's surely going to be air bubbles?
The bike came with zero assembly instructions. The accessories box has the generic bike manual and the usual selection of reflectors and a bell. Surely the manufacturer and/or the shop should mention if specialist tools are necessary. The box just says this, no mention of bleed kits:
The shop product page said this:
So I did "reach out". I was just wanting to know the normal assembly instructions for connecting these brakes and to check if the box was missing anything. They were noncommittal, saying that's how the bikes come to them, that the brakes may need bleeding (but not definitively that they would) and if I'm not confident to take it to my LBS, adding that they (Merlin) normally charge £250 for setting up a boxed bike. I've no problem with this advice per se (although £250 seems steep), but a few pointers wouldn't have gone amiss.
I splashed out on the Black Friday deal at Merlin for a Felt VR40 road bike with Tiagra hydro discs. At less than half price it was too tempting to resist.
It was advertised as a boxed bike and I was fine with assembling it, understanding I'd need to attach the bars, front wheel, seatpost, adjust brakes and derailleur etc and confident with this.
I didn't factor in the hydraulic brakes. The gear cables were all fully connected from brifters to derailleurs. However the hydraulic cables are unconnected in the middle, with white plastic plugs on the ends of the sections attached to the levers. The lower cable sections are routed through the bike forks and frame and connected to the front and rear calipers and the cable ends are wrapped in tape. The front caliper is not bolted to the fork but wrapped in plastic and cardboard and taped to the fork. See photo (all I've done so far is unpack the bike and attach the bars to the stem)
So, are the plugs there because the fluid reservoirs have been filled and it's only necessary to remove those and connect the lower sections of cable? Whether the lower sections are empty, or if they're pre-filled with fluid too, either way I would guess the brakes would need bleeding as there's surely going to be air bubbles?
The bike came with zero assembly instructions. The accessories box has the generic bike manual and the usual selection of reflectors and a bell. Surely the manufacturer and/or the shop should mention if specialist tools are necessary. The box just says this, no mention of bleed kits:
The shop product page said this:
So I did "reach out". I was just wanting to know the normal assembly instructions for connecting these brakes and to check if the box was missing anything. They were noncommittal, saying that's how the bikes come to them, that the brakes may need bleeding (but not definitively that they would) and if I'm not confident to take it to my LBS, adding that they (Merlin) normally charge £250 for setting up a boxed bike. I've no problem with this advice per se (although £250 seems steep), but a few pointers wouldn't have gone amiss.
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