Swapping Brake Lever and Calipers

gcwebbyuk
gcwebbyuk Posts: 1,926
edited September 2018 in MTB workshop & tech
My new bike came with Shimano MT500 brakes. I have a set of <100 mile SLX M7000 brakes from my old bike which I am considering swapping over.

Before I go down this path.... is there any benefit, are the M7000 brakes much better than the MT500 (which I think are a non-series version of Deore?).

Is it just a case of undo bolts, swap parts over and bleed - or a bit more tricky than that?

TIA.

Comments

  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    Why not ride it and see how they feel?

    No reason to bleed unless they need bleeding.
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  • gcwebbyuk
    gcwebbyuk Posts: 1,926
    The MT500 feel fine, just I have a "better" set laying around doing nothing - was going to swap them rather than sell them.
  • Swap them over and sell the MT500's. I really rate SLX brakes.

    It should be quite straight forward!
    "Ride, crash, replace"
  • JBA
    JBA Posts: 2,852
    The MT500 caliper has a screw-in hose connector but the M7000 caliper has a banjo fitting. This means the biggest obstacle you will have is if your brake hoses are internally routed as you will have to remove the MT500 rear hose and then rethread the M7000 hose.
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  • gcwebbyuk
    gcwebbyuk Posts: 1,926
    Luckily the brake hoses are external!
  • swod1
    swod1 Posts: 1,639
    Spec wise they are better but to the individual riding the bike its all down to your preference. one could feel better than the other and vice versa.

    I've had the lower end Shimano brakes and now prefer the XT M785's been using for the last 3 years.
  • swod1 wrote:
    Spec wise they are better but to the individual riding the bike its all down to your preference. one could feel better than the other and vice versa.

    I've had the lower end Shimano brakes and now prefer the XT M785's been using for the last 3 years.

    I sold my XT M785's and really miss them. `Upgraded` to M8000 and wasn't so sure about them. Now I've fitted new brake rotors they seem to be a lot happier but the 785's were/are a very good brake.

    I agree that `better spec` doesn't always mean better...
    "Ride, crash, replace"