Hayes Stroker Hydraulic Brakes-Tip of the Day

Last night I went out to Ultimate Bike to drop of my Hayes HFX9's and some other brake parts for a friend's new Zion Project. I brought my bike, bleed kit, new tool and my own fluid to do a supervised bleed and cut of my way to long OEM Strokers that I have been dealing with in full Double Dutchy style since they went on a few weeks ago. Yea, yea I know nothing like showing up at the shop late in the evening on a Wednesday talking about cutting brake lines and bleeding but some how I trusted and the result was a line cutting process that took less than 3mins per brake. Doug aka Guru of all things Hydraulic with his brain savvy told me that we could cut the lines to length without bleeding. This is how it went. Bike in stand, lever turned upright, undo coupler at the lever and then hold the end of the line high in the sky. Next(sorry no images my hands were in it) Doug took a razor blade and carefully cut the line at the appropriate spot only losing fluid from the line that is cut off. Still holding the line end high push in new brass insert then thread the coupler back into the lever housing. Tighten down and there you have it, no air got in during either process and the brakes feel great. Thanks to Doug's willingness to help I learned something that I never would have thought of. I appreciate the support of the shop that helps me stay rolling.

Doug undoing the coupler

length removed from the rear brake line

and the front

No more Double Dutchy