One thing worth mentioning here and what most of us forget when bleeding Shimano brakes is what Henry said from 0:14-0:24. This will fix that “floating” bite point feel. If you still have that floating bite point, that only means you didn’t bleed your brakes properly.
Marshy did a video a few years back on Gregs bike where he just did the gravity bleed. Fill the cup then pop the bleed port on the caliper and let the fluid drain through. No syringe, no pressure, but coated the caliper with oil on purpose.
Following Marshy’s video I was finally able to get the mushiness out of my Shimano breaks. I did it with less mess by holding the bleed nipple over a bottle instead of a rag. Months later and it’s still crisp. I don’t mess around with my syringe anymore. Just detach the calliper, open it and let it hang until the fluid is fresh. Make sure the cup doesn’t run dry or you’ll have to start over.
I found the biggest challenge with shimano brakes is getting minimal freestroke and ridding the floating bite point for more than a few rides post bleed. Never had these issues with my TRPs
I would NOT unscrew the free stroke screw "as much as you can" as is mentioned here. You risk potentially jamming or damaging the system by doing so, as is shown and explained in the following video link. Only unscrew it until there are about 2 visible threads. Also, I would start by removing the old oil on the syringe side first (again, shown and explained in the link below). Then I would bleed the system from the syringe to the reservoir. But before all that, I would start with cleaning the pistons well and making sure they come out fairly evenly before the bleed ruclips.net/video/stplTP334xg/видео.html
Sort of reminds me of the way auto and moto shops purge and refill braking systems, by pumping fluid from the calipers to the master cylinder using some kind of air-supply pump system.
My bleed nipples just leak all the fluid out when I brake after bleeding. Exact same issue in both front and rear. Very frustrating. Yes of course I tightened the nut again.
I think there is just oil remaining inside the cavity. I made this mistake also. After tighening the bleed nipple spray isopropyl alcohol inside the through hole of the bleed nipple to purge all remaining oil. Then roll a little bit of paper towel and use it as a Q-tip to drain whatever remains inside the bleed nipple through hole. There was definitely a lot of oil stuck inside. That's what I've done anyway. The jury's still out but I messed up a pair of brake pads, cleaning the disks with dish soap worked fine.
@@bmallory I’m just kidding 😂, but will it mess it up though? Also, I’m thinking about reusing, a cable, but will it be bad if I use an old cable that had that dot fluid in it originally?
@@unifiedthrills dot will dissolve the seals overtime. Dot really is nastier than mineral oil: if you put it on your hands you'll sense a burning sensation quite quickly ( don't ask me how I know ) Plus dot absorbs ambient moisture ( and that's why you have to purge them at least twice as frequently as mineral oil) while it's not really an issue with mineral oil
This is so wrong. You dont want to push all the dirty oil back up in to the master cylinder! Unless it's a brand new brake. You only put little oil on the syringe and press the syringe all the way in to remove all air off the syringe. Fill the funnel with some oil, then open the master cylinder and press the lever several times to remove air. Then release the caliper nipple then start pressing the lever until you get clean fluid out. If you see nothing but clean fluid coming out, close the caliper bleed nipple, press the levers several times just to verify the air is gone off the master cylinder and close the bleed port on master cylinder and you're done. You're basically following the same procedure as if you're bleeding your cars. DONT reverse bleed and send bad oil back to the master cylinder!
The caliper is small inside, and dirt can't really make its way out of there through the bleed nipple, whereas the reservoir is bigger and its easier for stuff to pass through. This method also purges air from the caliper too.
meh.. I guess their method is okay... I rewatched the parktool one which I consider the reference... but hey, not sure the world needed another brake bleed tutorial, and one that is reserved to pro-mtber only
NEVER push dirty fluid up into the lever. Contaminated fluid can clog the timing port in the lever, which is much smaller than the porting in the caliper. Contamination will sit at the lowest point in the system, so gravity bleed it out of the calipers.
Interesting…it seems like every video I’ve ever seen, including the Park Tools one, says push bottom to top first. I couldn’t easily find a link from Shimano that outlines a procedure. Do you happen to have one?
@@mikegehard6402 He's right. I have years of experience and would never push the filthy fluid at the caliper up to the lever, regardless of any official documentation. The caliper is subject to all of the heat and minute dirt ingress (no seal is ever perfect) so why force it up to the lever? I always fill the bucket at the lever, attach a hose to the caliper bleed port and do a quick drain until the fluid runs pink. Then and only then do I think about pushing fluid from the caliper up.
I’ve been bumbling down trails for 20+ years. I’ve seen gigabytes of brake bleed videos and I’m pretty sure this is a rip off of a similar video GMBN did four years ago (even looks like the same workshop). I’m surprised PB felt the need to upload another “Shimano Brake system - watch me bleed it!” video. Internet space is limited and we only need one or two brake bleed videos.
This is a simple explanation. I recently bled my XT 4P brakes recently after watching this video: ruclips.net/video/o-YvMRJunwo/видео.html I like their videos as well. In the video I shared, they didn't bleed the caliper directly, but when I watched one on Park Tool, they did. That's the problem with RUclips - many variations! Which one is correct? Or which is more effctive? Anyway, I bled mine according to the video I shared, where I opened the bleed port with the bucket attached to the lever with fluid of course. As I opened it, I noticed the fluid was clean so I let the bucket empty to about halfway and closed the brake line. I didn't use the Syringe method, did the gravity bleed. Then I bled the lever. When it was said and done I felt the brakes were better but not significantly better. Are they supposed to be significantly better after a bleed? Is there anything I could have done differently? I did everything else like taking the pads out and placing the bleed blocks in their place and being sure to push the pistons in. Please advise. Thanks.
why are you even putting this out there? Amateurs will attempt this, and some of them might even make videos of their attempts and PUT THEM ON RUclips! Best not to let them pollute our eyes with their attempts!! Also... what everybody else is saying about pushing dirt into the cylinder...
I cant't help it because of bumblegate but euhm... If the internet space is limited and we amateurs shouldn't upload noobish videos of our 20cm jumps, how does this video stack up then against the countless other "how to bleed Shimano brakes" videos? Thank you.
Thank you so much for reminding why: I have never bled my 2 shimano brake sets. I bet the oil is black, but still working. I have never bled my SRAM brake set. I bet the oil is black, but still working. I think I will take it to my LBS when it needs to be done.
One thing worth mentioning here and what most of us forget when bleeding Shimano brakes is what Henry said from 0:14-0:24. This will fix that “floating” bite point feel. If you still have that floating bite point, that only means you didn’t bleed your brakes properly.
Marshy did a video a few years back on Gregs bike where he just did the gravity bleed. Fill the cup then pop the bleed port on the caliper and let the fluid drain through. No syringe, no pressure, but coated the caliper with oil on purpose.
Can you do this with TRP?
Following Marshy’s video I was finally able to get the mushiness out of my Shimano breaks. I did it with less mess by holding the bleed nipple over a bottle instead of a rag. Months later and it’s still crisp. I don’t mess around with my syringe anymore. Just detach the calliper, open it and let it hang until the fluid is fresh. Make sure the cup doesn’t run dry or you’ll have to start over.
I found the biggest challenge with shimano brakes is getting minimal freestroke and ridding the floating bite point for more than a few rides post bleed. Never had these issues with my TRPs
good shot, I'll do it too on my channel
I would NOT unscrew the free stroke screw "as much as you can" as is mentioned here. You risk potentially jamming or damaging the system by doing so, as is shown and explained in the following video link. Only unscrew it until there are about 2 visible threads. Also, I would start by removing the old oil on the syringe side first (again, shown and explained in the link below). Then I would bleed the system from the syringe to the reservoir. But before all that, I would start with cleaning the pistons well and making sure they come out fairly evenly before the bleed
ruclips.net/video/stplTP334xg/видео.html
I'd prefer to gravity bleed first, instead of pulling all the contaminants from the caliper through the lever assembly...
exactly
Sort of reminds me of the way auto and moto shops purge and refill braking systems, by pumping fluid from the calipers to the master cylinder using some kind of air-supply pump system.
My bleed nipples just leak all the fluid out when I brake after bleeding. Exact same issue in both front and rear. Very frustrating. Yes of course I tightened the nut again.
I think there is just oil remaining inside the cavity. I made this mistake also.
After tighening the bleed nipple spray isopropyl alcohol inside the through hole of the bleed nipple to purge all remaining oil. Then roll a little bit of paper towel and use it as a Q-tip to drain whatever remains inside the bleed nipple through hole. There was definitely a lot of oil stuck inside.
That's what I've done anyway. The jury's still out but I messed up a pair of brake pads, cleaning the disks with dish soap worked fine.
Very useful. Thanks.
I just bought DB8’s Today, I will follow this tutorial with dot fluid.
Db8 uses mineral oil
@@bmallory I’m just kidding 😂, but will it mess it up though? Also, I’m thinking about reusing, a cable, but will it be bad if I use an old cable that had that dot fluid in it originally?
@@unifiedthrills dot will dissolve the seals overtime. Dot really is nastier than mineral oil: if you put it on your hands you'll sense a burning sensation quite quickly ( don't ask me how I know )
Plus dot absorbs ambient moisture ( and that's why you have to purge them at least twice as frequently as mineral oil) while it's not really an issue with mineral oil
I have a SRAM level brake on the front that hasn't been bled since I bought it in 2017. What should I do?
Go buy a new set of Shimano's and delete your pinkbike account.
There are so many of these how to bleed shimano brake videos out already dont think Pinkbike needed to do one but here we are
This is so wrong. You dont want to push all the dirty oil back up in to the master cylinder! Unless it's a brand new brake. You only put little oil on the syringe and press the syringe all the way in to remove all air off the syringe. Fill the funnel with some oil, then open the master cylinder and press the lever several times to remove air. Then release the caliper nipple then start pressing the lever until you get clean fluid out. If you see nothing but clean fluid coming out, close the caliper bleed nipple, press the levers several times just to verify the air is gone off the master cylinder and close the bleed port on master cylinder and you're done. You're basically following the same procedure as if you're bleeding your cars. DONT reverse bleed and send bad oil back to the master cylinder!
The caliper is small inside, and dirt can't really make its way out of there through the bleed nipple, whereas the reservoir is bigger and its easier for stuff to pass through. This method also purges air from the caliper too.
meh.. I guess their method is okay... I rewatched the parktool one which I consider the reference... but hey, not sure the world needed another brake bleed tutorial, and one that is reserved to pro-mtber only
Hi Henry. What brand are those pad spacers? They look like the perfect tools for working on sticky pistons in a 4-pot caliper.
It’s ok. I found them. Epic bleed solutions Magura brake blocks (in case any other bumblers were wondering)
I figured since they are blue they are ParkTool lol
NEVER push dirty fluid up into the lever. Contaminated fluid can clog the timing port in the lever, which is much smaller than the porting in the caliper. Contamination will sit at the lowest point in the system, so gravity bleed it out of the calipers.
Interesting…it seems like every video I’ve ever seen, including the Park Tools one, says push bottom to top first.
I couldn’t easily find a link from Shimano that outlines a procedure. Do you happen to have one?
@@mikegehard6402 He's right. I have years of experience and would never push the filthy fluid at the caliper up to the lever, regardless of any official documentation. The caliper is subject to all of the heat and minute dirt ingress (no seal is ever perfect) so why force it up to the lever? I always fill the bucket at the lever, attach a hose to the caliper bleed port and do a quick drain until the fluid runs pink. Then and only then do I think about pushing fluid from the caliper up.
@@ThunderStruckMTB+1 on drawing out from the caliper first. I'll then flush through from the bottom with some fresh fluid.
are trp similar?
mmm, best leave this to the pro's
I’ve been bumbling down trails for 20+ years. I’ve seen gigabytes of brake bleed videos and I’m pretty sure this is a rip off of a similar video GMBN did four years ago (even looks like the same workshop). I’m surprised PB felt the need to upload another “Shimano Brake system - watch me bleed it!” video. Internet space is limited and we only need one or two brake bleed videos.
"Internet space is limited" - Uh, wut?
🤣🤣
This is a simple explanation.
I recently bled my XT 4P brakes recently after watching
this video:
ruclips.net/video/o-YvMRJunwo/видео.html
I like their videos as well.
In the video I shared, they didn't bleed the caliper directly,
but when I watched one on Park Tool, they did. That's the problem
with RUclips - many variations! Which one is correct? Or which is more effctive?
Anyway, I bled mine according to the video I shared, where I opened the
bleed port with the bucket attached to the lever with fluid of course. As I opened it,
I noticed the fluid was clean so I let the bucket empty to about halfway and closed the brake line. I didn't use the Syringe method, did the gravity bleed. Then I bled the lever. When it was said and done I felt the brakes were better but not significantly better. Are they supposed to be significantly better after a bleed? Is there anything I could have done differently? I did everything else like taking the pads out and placing the bleed blocks in their place and being sure to push the pistons in.
Please advise. Thanks.
why are you even putting this out there? Amateurs will attempt this, and some of them might even make videos of their attempts and PUT THEM ON RUclips! Best not to let them pollute our eyes with their attempts!! Also... what everybody else is saying about pushing dirt into the cylinder...
I cant't help it because of bumblegate but euhm... If the internet space is limited and we amateurs shouldn't upload noobish videos of our 20cm jumps, how does this video stack up then against the countless other "how to bleed Shimano brakes" videos? Thank you.
Hello bumble commenter
@@JumpflowLine there's obviously an exception concerning bleed brakes tutorials, there cannot be enough of those on youtube
bumbling your way through the workshop.
enough of the bumbling thing 🥱
Because Henry is an ex world cup team mechanic you peanut! He is a pro.
Thank you so much for reminding why:
I have never bled my 2 shimano brake sets. I bet the oil is black, but still working.
I have never bled my SRAM brake set. I bet the oil is black, but still working.
I think I will take it to my LBS when it needs to be done.
No, no, no. All the 💩 goes up to lever with this method, the only way to do is gravity bleed.
A face you’d just love to land one on.
Lever bleed is very simple. Doesn’t show lever bleed
Ugh fire this guy already. 🥱