I have installed something similar to the TRP coupler from Ti Cycles Fabrication. They also have a version for SRAM. It’s quite bulky and installation is a bit fiddly as you are kinda twisting the brake hose. But it does the job. It actually allowed me to swap a complete handlebar (bar, shifters, tape & mounts) from one bike to another in a lot less time than having to do it step by step. Plus I wasn’t sure whether the handlebar tape would have survived otherwise. I also chose it because I may just reuse that handlebar on different frames as well for testing purposes. Would I use it on my n°1 bike? Probably not. Because I (always) have semi-integrated cables and as said: it is more bulky than I would like.
To my understanding, the TRP coupler, and the analogous product from TiCycles, aren’t meant to be disconnected and reconnected in any regular way. When one disconnects them, the brake hoses are open, and so could lose fluid, vs. the Zeno (and Formula) hydraulic quick connect couplers, which are designed to seal the hoses when the couplers are disconnected.
I’ve used the TRP/TiCycles couplers to connect a Shimano hose with preinstalled banjo, which I need for my XT brake calipers, to a Formula hose with a preinstalled hydraulic quick connect coupler. For the other side of the hydraulic quick connector, I used just a Formula hose with the mated quick connect coupler preinstalled, because at the XT lever there’s a barb/olive/nut, not a banjo.
There are aftermarket fittings to install a banjo onto a bare brake hose, but I don’t trust and therefore wouldn’t use those myself.
Hi @Dave_Rome ,
If you already have the DIY couplers - would you know if these are reusable? I suspect they would be, as they provide an interface like on the lever or caliper side of the brakes, but want to make sure.
My use case is that I l haven’t landed on the final routing on my road bike yet (might go for an integrated cockpit that has suitable routing apart from fitting well), for which I’ve bought the pre-crimped version, but need it sooner. I have another trip with my gravel bike coming up where the DIY couplers would then remain.
I own 8 bikes with frame couplers intended for travel. 6 have disc brakes and four of those are hydraulic. Those bikes have a combination of couplers including the No22 in-house couplers (which they stopped producing after Zeno couplers became widely available), Formula quick-connects, and now Zeno couplers. The Zeno are probably the least bulky and I’m not even sure the Formula ones are still available. I usually have one quick-connect on the rear brake line inside the downtube (on a coupled bike you have access to this area when splitting the frame apart) and then the other coupler on the front brake line. I do not have fully-integrated/hidden brake lines on any of the travel bikes. If I did have a travel set up with hidden brake lines I suppose I’d use the factory-crimp-on version to get the lowest profile possible and I’d either place them inside the stem (if there’s enough room/slack) or I’d use a stem where the cables run under the bar tape, under the stem (under a removable cover) and then into the headtube via the headset.
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