Brake bleeding methods

sparquin

I'm new here, so here I am introducing myself: I'm both a road and off-road rider from Aylesbury, with two bikes of my own and an ever-changing fleet of children's bikes to maintain. And now to the question . . .
I have Magura brakes on my MTB. The bleeding method is simplicity itself: connect a syringe to the caliper, connect a funnel to the master cylinder, use the syringe to pump oil through the system, suck some of it back, squirt it in again, put the plugs back in.
Can this same method be used for other makes of brake, especially Shimano, or is there some reason it only works with Magura brakes? I'd love to be able to use the same method for all hydraulic brakes.

steve_sordy

Sparquin wrote:

I'm new here, so here I am introducing myself: I'm both a road and off-road rider from Aylesbury, with two bikes of my own and an ever-changing fleet of children's bikes to maintain. And now to the question . . .
I have Magura brakes on my MTB. The bleeding method is simplicity itself: connect a syringe to the caliper, connect a funnel to the master cylinder, use the syringe to pump oil through the system, suck some of it back, squirt it in again, put the plugs back in.
Can this same method be used for other makes of brake, especially Shimano, or is there some reason it only works with Magura brakes? I'd love to be able to use the same method for all hydraulic brakes.

Whilst they are all basically the same, the equipment required can be subtly and frustratingly different to achieve the same basic task. Those lovely brake manufacturers keep coming up with "improved" versions that need different kit or adaptors that nobody but them can supply. (SRAM, I'm talking about you!)

Epic Bleed Solutions are my "goto" website for advice and solutions.
http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/blog/ ... disc-brake

That link opens at how to bleed Magura brakes, but they have advice on all the others. Click on "Resources" to see videos and so forth or use the search function

cooldad

What he said. Good prices, stuff works, advice is sound, and started and run by actual mountain bikers. ^^^^^^^^^

veronese68

I’ve got Parabox hydraulic converter so bought an Epic universal kit and I’ve used it on various brakes. Brilliant piece of kit.
The principal of bleeding brakes is the same for all, just different fittings and possibly different fluids.

sparquin

Some good advice and useful links (thank you), however I was really after the answer to

Can the Magura bleeding method be applied to all makes of brake?

The closest answer is . . .

Veronese68 wrote:

The principal of bleeding brakes is the same for all, just different fittings and possibly different fluids.

. . . so I'm just going to bite the bullet and give it a go. I'll report back.

billycool

In short - yes - although there are slight variations in processes.

I have Shimano SLX and XT brakes. Both work with a syringe on the caliper and funnel/reservoir on the lever. Dead easy to do and far less complicated than my old Avid Juicy 5's.

The other main difference is whether your brakes use mineral or DOT 4/5 oil.

898kor

Sparquin wrote:

with two bikes of my own and an ever-changing fleet of children's bikes to maintain..

Im in exactly the same boat - it feels like Im running a race team some days!
My stock of consumables would put a lot of LBS's to shame :roll:


Tend to agree with the comments above - Shimano just seem to be easier, the SRAM ones we have do bleed up fine but they just feel more fiddley.

I did get caught out a little when buying the Epic bleed kit, it wasn't clear that I would need the newer "Edge" adapter in addition to the main kit - I think a rule of thumb being if the SRAM Guide Caliper is 2016 or newer then it will probably need the edge adapter.

These days (as brake fluid is relatively cheap) - I use a much bigger syringes (using the fittings from epic) and just flush the whole system through with new - do it slowly and no air gets introduced, when you are confident its all new, lock off the caliper bleed, put a little pressure on the lever syringe and lock off the lever bleed - works every time for me, just dont put too much pressure on the lever syringe or it might close the pads in a little and cause rubbing that you cant back off.

scarthie99

https://youtu.be/piWBVDh1pTE

bobbydigital

Ah bleeding brakes, it is the evil of "modern" biking.

Magura need some lever squeezing during the bleed process that shimano tend not to need but that is about it.


Some shimano brakes bleed better via,

Pump the brake a few time to pressurise it
Squeeze and hold the brake lever in the braking position
Open the bleed nipple on the caliper
Close bleed nipple on the caliper
Top up fluid if needed
Repeat

sparquin

I said I'd report back, and so here I am. It took a surprisingly long time to finally get round to replacing a brake hose that was a tiny bit too short, but last night I did just that on a Deore 596 brake. The order of events is . . .

• Get the front wheel off and the brake pads out

• Disconnect the hose from the lever

• Connect a syringe to the bleed nipple of the caliper

• Open the bleed nipple and use the syringe to draw the oil down the hose until there are bubbles coming in

• Disconnect the hose from the caliper

• Connect the new hose to the lever, and then the caliper

• Put the bleeding funnel in the master cylinder filling port, and put some more oil in it

• Use the syringe to draw this oil through the caliper until no more bubbles come through

• Force the oil backwards and forwards a couple of times

• Close the bleed nipple

• Close the filling port on the lever

• Clean up, put the pads back and the wheel back on

The result is an absolutely solid feel at the lever, no mush at all. Quickest bleed I've ever done with Shimano brakes!

JBA

smithclarkson01 wrote:

A load of twaddle that is nothing to do with MTBs.

Reported.

keef66

JBA wrote:

smithclarkson01 wrote:

A load of twaddle that is nothing to do with MTBs.

Reported.

Doesn't have a lot to do with properly bleeding brakes on a car either TBH. I'm picturing a red faced, morbidly obese Trump voter in a perforated and stained vest and a tatty baseball cap...