I like the idea of these new hydraulic road brakes but I’ve been thinking. A number of people have had leaky shimano brake levers on mountain bikes. We all know seal kits don’t exist but a new lever is reasonably prices so you just replace the sub assembly.

What’s the score when a BR685 leaks? Is the master cylinder going to be available as a modular fit or is the only option a new £200 brake/shifter*?

Any industry insiders know what the plan is?

* sneaky edit.

Prepare for the “brifter” backlash…..

Should I edit while I still can? What should I call them?

They’re called STIs. It’s quicker to type than “brifter”, and has the added advantage that I don’t want to stab you in the face. I’d never heard the term until a couple of months ago, seems to be becoming more popular for some reason!

As for your question, the exploded parts diagram isn’t out yet, so still TBC, but it seems likely they’ll do an assembly, they do anyway for the mechanical ones, but it’s not cheap, and not sure what parts it’ll actually include. When they did hydraulic MTB dual control levers they didn’t do any additional seals. Do they really go that regularly? Never seen a problem myself.

I thought STI just stood for Shimano Total Integration. Didn’t that start with the original push/push mountain bike shifters?

Anyway, let’s not digress for the original question please. I’ve now edited the original post.

Not the thread title though!

It is does stand for Shimano Total Integration, but it’s the moniker they give to their combined shift/brake units. Hence the product code is “ST-RS685”. BR-RS685 being the brakes themselves, and BL-RS685 would be the brake levers, if such a think existed.