Make Living With Internal Routing Easier With Zeno

One of the biggest complaints I hear about fully internally routed bikes is if you need to pull the fork, service the headset, or do anything with the hydraulic lines or handlebars, you have to pick your poison on where you are going to disconnect the hydraulics. Disconnecting from either end, you might have to pull off the barb and olive to get a fitting off to fish the line through the frame or bars, and then route it back through when you are done. You will also have to bleed the system to remove any air that might have made its way in. Zeno, a brand from Taiwan, has a solution with their Q-Connect Hydraulic Quick Decouplers that allows you disconnect without the need to bleed the line. Zeno sent us a kit for a recent build and after a fairly straight forward set up, we are really impressed.

Zeno offers a range of products for brakes, along with small tools and other essentials. What first caught my attention was the fact that you can quickly and easily disconnect the lines and you do not need to bleed the brakes. The system was originally created for travel bikes with couplers on the frame, allowing you to not only split the frame to pack it away into the case, but also the hydraulic lines. To achieve this, the male and female ends plug together and are held in place by a clip. When apart, they lock to not let fluid out or air in. To give you some background, here’s a link to an article I previously wrote before getting parts in and testing them out.

For this article, I’m going to focus on the Q-Connect Hydraulic Quick Decouplers and a Brake Line Volume Adjustor I used on the front brake. There are specific pieces available for Shimano and SRAM, but this will focus on the Shimano road products. On their website, Zeno does a good job at noting what products belong to Shimano (Mineral) and SRAM (DOT), including noting the equivalent of the Shimano specific hoses (BH-90 for Road and BH-59 for mountain). Just make sure you are using the correct size fittings for your levers and calipers. From looking at the diagrams included in the pictures for each product, they do a great job showing which parts work together. This was a huge help in figuring out all the parts I was going to need in advance.

The test rig is a new Van Dessel Arch 65 frameset we received for review with a mix of Shimano GRX 815 Di2 brakes and levers, Ultegra 8070 derailleurs, and matching Ultegra crankset fitted with a Stages dual-sided power meter. I used the stock headset and paired it with an Airwolf HB009 integrated handlebar/stem. My goal was to have couplers where lines go into the handlebars, into the headtube, and at the brakes. This would allow me to disconnect the levers from the bars, stem from the frame, and calipers from the frame, which in turn means I can disconnect all components, and I can remove the fork and stem/bars quickly, easily, and without the need to bleed. For the shifting, I put the Shimano EW-WU111 D-Fly Bluetooth unit where the Di2 cable goes into the head tube, allowing me to completely make the split.

For the build, I used the following parts:

• Levers to Disconnect before entering the bars – SLQ-5-2, Quantity 2
• Inside bars to headset – SLQ-3-2, Quantity 2
• From headset to caliper – SLQ-6-1 and SLQ-6-2, Quantity 2 each
• Connection to caliper – SLQ-3-1 and Brake Line Volume Adjuster, Quantity 1 each per caliper

Obviously, there are various ways you can do a build. It all depends on how many places you want/need disconnects.

Starting at the caliper, I unscrewed the fitting and added the SLQ-3-1 fitting which has a female end to connect with. Zeno only sent one Brake Line Volume Adjuster, so I put that up front, and then added the SLQ-3-1. From there, I added the SLQ-6-2. This adds a female adapter into the SLQ-3-1, and on the other end, has their SpeedLink connection that takes a bare hose. The SpeedLink connectors use a locking nut, which snugs the hose up and seals it into the fitting. This allowed me to route the SLQ-6-1 hose through the frame and fork to the caliper, and trim the bare end down. On the other end, you have the female end to connect to the male end of the SLQ-3-2, and run that through the stem and handlebars. I made sure to leave some slack so that when I go to pull the stem from the steerer tube, I can get them apart. After running the hose out of the handlebars, I disconnected the SLQ-4-1 that comes with the SLQ-5-2, and use the SpeedLink connection to seal the bare hose. The last part was to measure the length needed from the last connection to the M9 fitting that goes into the levers. With the barb added to the cut down hose, I was able to connect the M9 fitting, and screw it into the lever. Again, where possible all throughout this, try to leave a little slack where you can that will be contained in the frame or handlebars/stem.

One thing to keep in mind with the SpeedLink connections. Loosening the nut and pulling the bare hose is not the same as the Q-Connect Hydraulic Quick Connectors. This will open the line up to air and will result in needing to bleed the system. As long as you disconnect at the Q-Connect couplers, you will be fine.

As a disclaimer, if all of this seems a little daunting, it might be something to take to your local shop and have a qualified mechanic handle. Zeno state on each product page that your brakes are a “matter of life” part, and suggests a qualified mechanic perform the installation. As I have worked in a shop for a few years. and build my own bikes, I felt comfortable, but if you are new to working with hydraulic systems, maybe take it as an opportunity to learn something new from your mechanic and see if you can shadow them while they are doing the work.

After everything was installed, I made sure all of the connections were solid. At all of the coupling points, I made sure the male end was tight into the female end, and then slid the clip into the slots on the female end. This keeps the two ends connected. It has a handy rubber leash to keep it attached when everything is disconnected. This clip is extremely important, so don’t lose it or maybe buy some extras to keep on hand. While apart, the system is closed and will not leak or take in air, but when connected, the system opens up and flows.

Next, it was a matter of adding hydraulic fluid and bleeding the system. Using the One-Way method from Shimano, I added a cup with mineral oil in at the shifter, and pushed fluid into the system from the caliper with a syringe. Make sure to follow the appropriate process, which includes a bleed block in the caliper. Once filled and bled, you are ready to ride. Go take it on a short test ride to make sure everything is good.

In use

Compared the stock hydraulic lines, I couldn’t tell a difference, which is the point. Brake performance felt the same as the stock hoses and fittings. I have about 1,500 miles in on them, and there hasn’t been any issues with the Zeno system. No leaks, no disconnects, everything just works. I haven’t used the Brake Line Volume Adjuster yet on the road, but I did use it to bring the pads together when I was truing the front rotor. As your pads begin to wear down, you can dial up the adjuster which should be similar to adding some additional fluid to bring the pads closer as they wear, or using a barrel adjuster on a mechanical brake line.

The biggest challenge I have is disconnecting and reconnecting at the headtube. It’s not something that you should have to do often, but it was more about the slack, and stuffing it into the frame. I kept the hoses longer coming out of the stem as the couplers would not fit inside, above the headset. Because the hoses are hydraulic, and rated to over 4500 psi, they can be stiff like any other hydraulic line. The system I came up with is to connect them, and then work them into the headtube, and then reassemble the headset. It can be a little challenging getting the clips in sometimes when you are working with two hands and trying to hold the handlebars, but the more experience you have doing it, the easier it gets.

Bottom line is that Zeno’s Q-Connect Hydraulic Quick Decouplers and SpeedLink systems are a great addition to the cycling world. Is it necessary to have as many coupling points as I did for the Arch 65? No, but, if you change your equipment or like to make adjustments on your bike, and you are running integrated hose routing, it can be a game changer. No longer do you have to disconnect, reconnect, and bleed. To me, bleeding brakes is one of the things I do not look forward to doing. Zeno’s system removes that step for me and is something that I am looking at for all of my future builds.

www.zenocycleparts.com