Monty

[elliott the onza man]

I am thinking of getting a Monty hose spliter and I would like to know how they work, how to fit them, if they're any good and do I have to get anything else so that I can fit them, or do I just use what I have on my current HS33. It says something about inserting barbed fittings.

Thanks alot, Elliott.

[psycholist]

I haven't used one, but I presume they fit the same way as the barbed fittings used in the crossover on normal Magura rim brakes. For those you need to clamp the brake line (Leaving about 1cm of tube sticking out of the clamp so the tube can expand as the barbed fitting is hammered into it) and tap the barbed fitting into the end of it with a hammer - using a bit of oil on the barbs makes this a little easier, as does heating the tubing (though you run the risk of weakening it of you go too hot). I find a bit of oil is all I use.

A clamp suitable for tube can be made by clamping two pieces of wood together and drilling a hole about 1mm smaller than the brake line half in half through where the blocks touch and clamping the tube in the hole. Since the Monty splitter is 'Y' shaped, hammering it in the correct direction is a bit more awkward than for the straight barbed fittings, so I'd suggest you use more wood (Possibly shaped to fit the angles on the splitter) between the hammer and the splitter to get the angle right and not damage the splitter.

[elliott the onza man]

Do I need to but some barbed fittings then.

[psycholist]

The splitter is three barbed fittings joined in a 'Y' (One for the line from the lever and one for the line to each piston). The slave pistons already have barbed fittings to connect the crossover line. I'm not sure what you're meant to do with the remaining port in the slave pistons though (Each slave piston has two holes, on a standard setup one port on each piston goes to the crossover while the remaining one is either plugged with a bolt to be used as a bleed port or connected to the brake lever).

If you don't have a suitable bolt for plugging the hole left free in the slave piston where the line from the brake lever used to enter then you have a problem - the connection from the brake lever in the slave piston is a shroud nut and olive style (as used to connect the brake line at the lever too), so you may have to use this for one of the lines from the splitter as it is a bigger diameter than the other fittings and can't be plugged with a bleed bolt like the holes that take barbed fittings.

So to summarise to change from a standard working Magura you'll need:

The splitter

A new length of brake line

A new olive

A new bleed bolt

You'll also have to bleed each slave piston individually to remove all the air from the brake after you've got it all assembled.

[r2wtrials]

fited one on my Echo a month ago... piece of pee. Just be carefull when you are fitting the pipes to the barbed ends of the slitter. I used a magura fitting kit which is basically pair of clamps that you put in a vice with the pipe in the middle sticking up a few mm above the clamp. Then you need to get a small drift and gently tap the splitter onto the pipe making sure you are going down square.... the barbs can break off and you would have to buy another.

Once fitted you then bleed first from one piston and then do it all up and bleed again from the other side.

Technically it shouldn't make a difference but it cured my lazy piston problem straight away... both sides are in and out together now. And one less pipe on one side to catch and break!!

Fitted view...

Edited May 7, 2009 by r2wtrials

[Scott Gibbs]

I am thinking of getting a Monty hose spliter and I would like to know how they work, how to fit them, if they're any good and do I have to get anything else so that I can fit them, or do I just use what I have on my current HS33. It says something about inserting barbed fittings.

Thanks alot, Elliott.

A mate of mine had them on his old monty x-lite back in 2000, they are ment to give equal pressure into both pistons there for giving better braking. To be honest you wont feel a huge difference from one. They fit the same way as the barbed fitting on the cross over pipe so should be easy enough to fit on.

[Elliot]

If you don't have a suitable bolt for plugging the hole left free in the slave piston where the line from the brake lever used to enter then you have a problem

The simplist thing to do is get another slave piston which has one bolt hole already covered as the bleed hole. Then just have 2 lines, one from each cylinder with a barbed fitting, both going into the barbed fittings of the splitter. Not the cheapest solution mind.