You are hereForums / By Discipline / Mountain (off road) / MTB Gear / Advanced bike maintenance..
Advanced bike maintenance..
Hi guys,
Need to cut my hydraulic hoses and set the derailleur hanger straight (again). Both activities that require special tools if you want to do it properly.
Not keen on buying a hose cutter, because that's not likely to ever get used again. (about 80 on CRC)
Bleed kit and derailleur allignment tool might come in handy in the future but a bit pricey.
As I do like tinkering with the bike and figuring out how things work I was wondering if anyone was interested to get some 'communal tools' going.
Thought maybe we could start a list of who has what and would be willing to share. Don't have any of the special tools yet but might start with that derailleur hanger tool soon and be willing to share that...
Cheers
Ps: please no 'bring it to the shop' comments...
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
I don't do communal tools because nobody looks after them and they're never on hand when you need them. Prefer to own them myself. They don't get lent either, unless I'm 100% comfortable the borrower knows how to treat tools and will return them in the condition in which they were taken. Been burnt too many times there.
I use inexpensive bicycle cable cutters. You just need to make sure you do it straight. You will also need to ensure you have replacement hose barb and olive on hand as these are not removable: installation squeezes the olive into the hose and you can't get it off once it's been fitted.
Shortened the front brake hose on my Rize weekend before last without any complications. The cutters get regular use and are worth buying IMO.
Good luck
Take your rear wheel off and remove the skewer, remove the derailleur and screw the wheel into the derailleur bolt hole and use wheel to bend hanger until your calibrated eye judges it to be straight. If you would like to have the rear wheel fitted for reference then screw your front wheel into the derailleur bolt hole...
Hi - its a really nice idea to have communcal tools, but I too like to have things immediately to hand, and not worry about getting things back in the right condition.
One thing however that I have been considering has been how many tools I have bought over the years that are no longer of any use to me.
e.g. all my bikes now have pressfit BB, so the bb tools are redundant. Crank removal tools too.
I will probably go through my tool box over the weekend and just post up a list of what I have got going spare.
I think when I shortened mine I just used a stanley knife that was sharp or a snap blade knife , the derailer hanger I leave too the experts at bike races they look after you there .
If you want you can generally get away with a sharp pair of side cutters if your careful. I no you can use them for cutting gear cables but not sure about hydraulic hoses. Maybe invest in a pair of them or just bite the bullet and get a pair of cable cutters as you will always use them if your doing regular maintenance.
As for straightening a derailer hanger i have no idea, never needed to do it.
Good luck mate.
Nothing wrong with using decent side cutters. Just make sure you use something to open/round the end. I use a sharpened nail.
Derailleur hangers are made from a soft malleable metal designed to bend easily to save your derailleur. The thing with soft malleable metal is that once it bends it now has a weak point and is therefore unreliable. You are meant to toss them. They cost bugger all so just get a new one. It's kinda like turning your undies inside out to get n extra day between washes!
LOL! Too much information fatboy
...as always lots of great info here. I'll have a go at the hoses with sidecutters. Someone told me you needed the special hydraulic hose tool.otherwise I would have tried already.
As for the derailleur hanger - I ride a Scott scale and unfortunately the hanger is non-replaceable (laminated to the carbon fibre frame). They changed it on the recent models.
Using the wheel to align it sounds like a great idea. Will try that next.
And regarding the communal tools, obviously I would like to own all the tools myself but it's getting quite expensive...
Cheers