You have your new set of hydraulic disc brakes ready to go on your mountain bike…where do we start? Before you jump at the chance to upgrade your current mountain bike to hydraulic disc brakes , you need to make sure that your bike has the necessary mounts for installation.
These are the mounts you are looking for…. On your suspension fork, you are looking for IS or post mounts for disc brakes. If your bike has post mounts, you most likely already have disc brakes installed. Most and later forks if not all now come standard with post mounts.
If you are in the process of upgrading, you are most likely looking at IS mounts on your suspension fork. On the rear of your mountain bike frame, you need to make sure that you have those exact same IS mounts on the rear triangle on the non-drive side of your frame.
You are going to mount the caliper to these mounts during installation. To be disc brake compatible , your mountain bike hubs need to have mounts for the disc brake rotors. These mounts are going to come in one of two different configurations. The most common of these is a 6 bolt mount on the hub body that looks like the picture below. Shimano also makes their own proprietary Centerlock system which will be found on some of their hub sets.
If your mountain bike has the required mounts, but your hubs do not…a new set of wheels are going to be required. If your frame or fork does not have the IS or post mounts for disc brakes, you will not be able to install the brakes on your bike.
For the purposes of this article, we are going to assume that your hydraulic lines are the correct length for your frame. In many cases, the stock length will work perfect and trimming the hydraulic lines may not be needed. If you lines are too long for your mountain bike frame, you should have them fitted to your bike.
Before you start the installation process, make sure that all of your parts match. Your mounting brackets should match up with your rotor size. Typically, rotors come in these sizes…mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.
The caliper mounting bracket determines how high the caliper sits off the frame to contact the correct rotor size. To get started with the process of installing your new hydraulic disc brakes on your mountain bike , we need to install the rotors on your hubs. Install the disc brake rotors on your mountain bike hubs using the T25 Torx wrench. Typical mounting requires in lbs. Be careful with the torx bolts because they strip very easily.
Every bolt should have blue lock-tite already applied to prevent vibration loosening. Mount caliper, ensuring bolts are a half-turn from fully tight, and brake mount if required is in correct orientation. Zip-tie or clamp the brake hose in place. If you have a full-suspension bike, measure the hose length with the bike fully compressed. You may have to remove air from the rear shock to do this. The extra hose can now be trimmed at the lever end. Remove rubber cover at lever end and undo 8mm compression nut.
Hold rag underneath in case of spillage. Slide rubber cover and compression nut down hose, out of the way, and pull hose from lever.
Try to be gentle to avoid spillage, but some hoses do require a sharp tug. Hold hose in shorter position next to the lever and turn handlebars degrees. Mark the length. Very carefully use a sharp blade for cutting, and use hose clamps and a plastic mallet for the insert. Take new compression olive and slide onto hose. Press the insert into the end of hose using either an insert tool, or hose clamps and gently tapping in with a plastic mallet.
Apply a miniscule amount of grease to olive and push hose back into lever. This aligns the caliper to the disc brake. Usually 5 mm Allen bit is needed and the typical torque is in lbf or 8. Give the wheel a spin to insure it spins free. After installing brakes, I like to ride the bike a half mile or so. Use zip-ties to hold the brake lines to the fork and frame as needed.
Trim off zip-tie extra. Basically, pick the bike up 4 to 6 inches and bounce it, listening for new rattles. Take the screw driver or Allen wrench that fits the brake lever and fine tune the placement of the brake levers. Remove the rear wheel and attach the brake rotor as described on the front wheel. Remember to torque the bolts down in a STAR pattern using a thread lock fluid. Loosely attach the caliper and route the brake line.
A little bit of care is needed when routing the rear brake line up to the handle bars. Usually the line runs along the chainstay, up the seat tube and under the top tube to the handlebars.
The first step is to diagnose the disc brake rub. Often removing the wheel and taking a little bit of time re-installing will fix a rub. Fast and easy — no tools required. If the rotor rub is slight, put the bike in a bike stand and spin the wheel with a light behind the back pads.
Loosen the calipers bolts, and while holding the brake lever, re-torque the caliper bolts. Give the wheel a spin while backlighting. When the rub disappears re-torque to the correct spec. Pro Tip: Maintain you brakes by bleeding. This allows for easy hand pressure to control the braking intensity.
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