Setting up new MTB

[lulubel]

No, it hasn't arrived yet. Don't get excited! I'm just thinking ahead, and have 2 questions.

1. The bike will come with the brake levers the "wrong" way round, as far as I'm concerned - front brake on left. My plan was to just swap them over, which I thought would be simple until I started reading stuff about bleeding the brakes, probably getting air in the system, and needing to source mineral oil (they're Shimano brakes). Bearing in mind that I've never used disc brakes before, so I don't know how they're supposed to feel when they're set up correctly, is this a job best left to a professional (at least this time)?

2. I've been looking for a good guide on tuning Reba forks, and all I've managed to find is something saying 60% of rider weight in the main chamber and 10psi less in the small chamber. Surely, it's more complicated than that. Don't I have to adjust other things, like the rebound settings? I know everyone likes their suspension forks slightly different, but I need a "start like this and adjust to suit" kind of guide.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

50% of weight inc all your gear in positive chamber 10 psi less in negative, rebound in the middle, compression set via a kerb test. Take it from there.

First off- new forks will take a little time to loosen up/bed in.
Second off - don't be afraid to take the shock pump with you and experiment with different settings riding the same trail over and over
Third off - all time in the workshop fettling is riding time wasted.
4th off - air forks leak air and need topping up so get used to using that suspension pump.

some links

http://www.trails.com/how_1747_set-up-mtb-suspension-forks.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/technical-tuesday-suspension-basics-2010.html
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Content_10052_10551_-1_SuspensionForkAdjustment

 

[jonny jeez]

50% of weight inc all your gear in positive chamber 10 psi less in negative, rebound in the middle, compression set via a kerb test. Take it from there.

First off- new forks will take a little time to loosen up/bed in.
Second off - don't be afraid to take the shock pump with you and experiment with different settings riding the same trail over and over
Third off - all time in the workshop fettling is riding time wasted.
4th off - air forks leak air and need topping up so get used to using that suspension pump.

some links

http://www.trails.com/how_1747_set-up-mtb-suspension-forks.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/technical-tuesday-suspension-basics-2010.html
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Content_10052_10551_-1_SuspensionForkAdjustment

Glad you didn't make it to "fifth off", or the profanity censor would of had you .

 

[Cubist]

No, it hasn't arrived yet. Don't get excited! I'm just thinking ahead, and have 2 questions.

1. The bike will come with the brake levers the "wrong" way round, as far as I'm concerned - front brake on left. My plan was to just swap them over, which I thought would be simple until I started reading stuff about bleeding the brakes, probably getting air in the system, and needing to source mineral oil (they're Shimano brakes). Bearing in mind that I've never used disc brakes before, so I don't know how they're supposed to feel when they're set up correctly, is this a job best left to a professional (at least this time)?

2. I've been looking for a good guide on tuning Reba forks, and all I've managed to find is something saying 60% of rider weight in the main chamber and 10psi less in the small chamber. Surely, it's more complicated than that. Don't I have to adjust other things, like the rebound settings? I know everyone likes their suspension forks slightly different, but I need a "start like this and adjust to suit" kind of guide.

Greg's done the forks thing... it really is play until it feels right, so have fun.

As for the brakes, you're a confident spannerist, so it is well within your capabilities. You'll need a bleed kit anyway, so eBay one (Epicbleedsolutions) which have a couple of syringes, tubes and a bottle of mineral oil fo very little money. Written instructions make bleeding a breeze.

You also need new inserts and olives, as you cannot guarantee the old olives will form a decent joint second time round.

Swapping hoses: Take your wheels out of the dropouts and put your bike in the stand. Loosen the lever clamps and rotate so that the reservoirs horizontal. Tighten the clamps so they can't rotate back down! Loosen the cap on the reservoirs, recent Shimano have a bleed port on the top which is loosened with a torx key. Take the pads out of the calipers and gently pump the brake levers so that the pistons come out a few millimetres. Be careful not to pop the pistons out all the way....

This forces fluid down into the caliper and leaves a void in the reservoir.

Now slide the rubber end caps away from the inline connectors on the levers. They're a push fit. Undo the nut on the inline connector with an 8mm spanner. That slides up the hose and leaves the hose with the olive and insert in the female part of the inline connector. Pull it free, and be careful not to let it lose too much fluid.

Cut off the last 15-20mm of hose, which has the insert and Olive on it They aren't reuseable unless you're really careful/lucky. Use a sharp stanley blade to make as square a cut as you can. Make sure the rubber end cap and inline connector are still on the hose, and slide the new olive on a few cm. Now, you need to drive the new insert into the hose end so that the flange sits flush with the cut face of the hose. I hold the hose in a pair of pliers/grips, and use a small hammer to drive it in.Others use a vice to hold the hose.

Now, slide the olive down towards the end of the hose, so that it sits about 2mm away from the flange. Push the hose into the lever end of the connector on the other lever, and slide the nutted part down onto it. Tighten the nutted part of the connector as tight as you can with the spanner, and then some. This drives the flanged hose end into the face of the connector, and the olive is crushed like a crush washer to form a seal.

Now clean any fluid from your hands and refit the pads. Use a flat bladed screwdriver or similar to carefully prise the pads apart, pushing the pistons back into the calipers. This forces the fluid back up the hoses, and any air in the hose is forced up into the reservoir. Use the bleed syringe to top up the reservoir and tighten the cap/bleed port.

Refit the wheels and pump the levers to re-pressurise. If it feels too spongy you may need to bleed again, but as long as you are careful not to let the hoses spill too much fluid you should be OK.

 

[Motozulu]

After reading the above..really...I'd just get used to the new brake orientation and get out there

A lot of faffing and wasted riding time if you ask me. Obviously a good idea to set up the forks but, that's as much as I would do - all part of the fun trying to remember (and failing) which one was the rear brake again

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I'd take it to an lbs and explain in my best Spanish if you've not done it before. You don't want to have your front brake fail halfway down a mountainside because you didn't cut the line end properly.

Not that it has ever happened to me....

 

[lulubel]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

50% of weight inc all your gear in positive chamber 10 psi less in negative, rebound in the middle, compression set via a kerb test. Take it from there.

Presumably a kerb test involves riding off a kerb, but what am I looking for? And how high should the kerb be? (They come in all shapes and sizes, from less than an inch to about a foot here.)

As for the brakes, you're a confident spannerist, so it is well within your capabilities. You'll need a bleed kit anyway, so eBay one (Epicbleedsolutions) which have a couple of syringes, tubes and a bottle of mineral oil fo very little money.

I've found the seller and ordered one, but I think I'll follow Greg's advice and get the lbs to do this for me. Anything I order from eBay generally takes at least 10 days to come, and I hope I'll be riding it before then (although it's still the monsoon season here in Spain, so you never know). Also, the process does look rather complicated!

After reading the above..really...I'd just get used to the new brake orientation and get out there

I tried that with the current MTB. I've spent 8 months trying to get used to the brakes being the wrong way round, and it hasn't happened (probably not helped by having the brakes on my road bike the British way). I have considered changing those over so I have both the European way, but I'm still not comfortable with having my left hand operating the front brake. I tend to do "everything else" (drinking, wiping my nose, etc) with my left hand, going back to the days when I was scared to take my right hand off the bars, and I also only ever signal left - most cyclists here don't signal at all, so I stick with only signalling when I'm going to cross the path of traffic to try and keep confusion to a minimum. All this means I never need to take my right hand off the bars, so it makes sense to operate my most powerful brake with it, and it is useful sometimes to be able to signal while braking.

It's one of those things that I've given a lot of thought to (and given a lot of time) and I've realised I'm not going to be happy on the bike unless I have it the way I want it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Presumably a kerb test involves riding off a kerb, but what am I looking for? And how high should the kerb be? (They come in all shapes and sizes, from less than an inch to about a foot here.)

four to six inches in old money and you want the fork to compress and extend once and not go boingggg-gggg-ggg-gg-g before settling. But remember the settings on a brand new one will be different to those once it is run/bedded in. (Assuming it was built right in the first place, and besides, two rides later it will be worn out - c'est la vie)

 

[Cubist]

Less than 20 minutes work, it only looks complicated written down.

 

[Motozulu]

Aaah - did'nt realise your road bike was different - in that case yes, deffo get em changed - with that kind of confusion I'd be looking at hospital stay overs.