I’m looking to get meself a set of the Shimano SLX M666 brakes, but doing my homework on the interweb I’ve come across a consistent pattern of badly crimped hoses, dodgy pad compounds, and leaky master cylinders, across the whole range of 2012 brakes – XTR/XT/SLX.

Have Shimano fixed all these problems yet, so its safe to buy some? I’ll be buying online from abroad to get the best price, so I don’t want any warranty issues.

I bought some from Rose 6 months ago with dodgy hoses,Rose replaced them straight away and the new ones are perfect so I would say yeah go for it.

Thanks, but trouble is I’m in Oz and I’ll be buying from Germany, so any to & fro with warranty replacements isn’t so easy. So, what I’m hoping to hear is that Shimano have sorted their production/quality issues, and the new stock coming thru doesn’t have the problems in the first place?

What is meant by dodgy hoses….?
I’ve noticed a wee bit of oil pooling at the hose/calliper interface…is this it??

DrP

Had mine 5 months, been perfect so far.

What is meant by dodgy hoses….?
I’ve noticed a wee bit of oil pooling at the hose/calliper interface…is this it??

Yep, that seems to be the most common issue. Aparrently due to sub-standard crimping at the banjo connection, and can eventually lead to oil getting onto pads/rotor and causing poor braking. Have a look here for one discussion of the issue XT Brake Hose Issue

It seems Shimano/bike shops are well aware of the issue, and will replace hoses with little fuss, but I’d rather hear that they’ve solved the root problem and I don’t need to go through that scenario…

I’ve had my SLX brakes for about 3 months and had no problems with mine.

Sounds encouraging erny. I’m hoping that another advantage of buying online from Europe (apart from price) is that these big online stores have high thruput, so should have new stock by now where the earlier quality problems have already been fixed.

if I was to buy slx/xt brakes with 203/180mm discs and appropriate adapters how much am I likely to save compared to the slx from Merlin??
find the foriegn sites quite confusing and can`t be bovvered with all this swapping hoses etc on euro sided brakes 🙄

Trekster, at 162 Euro for a complete set of the new SLX including rotors I think the Germans beat Merlin, even with their extra 15% discount at the moment. And as for swapping the levers round, you’re gonna have to shorten the hoses anyway, so shoving them back into a different lever after cutting the hose is no big deal.

Still, I guess being in the UK then shopping local counts for something (currency, delivery, language etc.), but for me in Oz – Germany, Ireland, UK , doesn’t make any difference, you’re all on the other side of the world, so I just go for best price and service! 🙂

I think the Germans beat Merlin, even with their extra 15% discount at the moment

Correction: It’s Evans that have 15% off at the moment, Merlin is only 5%. 😳

dont guys on perthmtb forum often do group buys from crc / wiggle?

i’ll be back over there in august. how quickly do you want them?

Had a brand new slx caliper fail in the workshop only couple of weeks back, failed piston seal piddled it’s oil over everything.

Hi aphex, Wiggle & CRC now do free postage to Oz for any order over $80, so there’s no need to pool orders or get people to bring ’em over anymore, but many thanks for the offer! Even the German sites only charge about $20 delivery to Oz versus $8 to the UK, so purchasing direct is no bother – its the potential to & fro on a warranty issue I’m more worried about.

@coatesy 🙁 Another problem to add to the list?

Hard to say, had a few leaking since the start of the year, but there’s no telling how long the bikes have been sat in boxes previously.I was considering swapping my old Hopes a while back, but the last two winter’s leaking issues, and the possibility of failure in the middle of nowhere has put me off.Getting a warranty replacement isn’t an issue for me, but having no brakes when i’m 20 miles from home could be.

Oh well – too late now anyway – pressed the button on my order this morning after another hair raising ride on my ‘yank the lever and wait to see if the brakes engage’ M445s.

Also noticed a lot of the usual places running out of stock of the M666, so was a good excuse to snap ’em up!

I’ll be back here in a couple of months to sing their praises or drag Shimano’s name thru the mud, depending on my experiences with them…

no problems here (xt version). trouble free 6mnths of the best brake ive ever used. i did fit hoses myself though.

Are these anywhere near the right price or model Australian free delivery and warranty.

http://tbsm.com.au/bike-parts/brakes/complete-brakes

Thanks for the heads up slinkybike, but I’d already checked out TBSM. Their prices are pretty good, but at AU$246 for a pair of M666 levers & calipers, versus AU$210 for a complete set including rotors and adapters delivered, the Germans still have the edge! Also, TBSM only have the rear in stock at the moment, and I was afraid the special pricing wouldn’t apply to the front when available.

Warranty is the only advantage buying local still has, which is why I’m so paranoid about the issues the 2012 brakes seem to be having! But then I’m also reasoning that the big European online retailers have much greater throughput than here in Oz, so they’re more likely to be selling recently manufactured stock that’s had the problems rectified.

Anyway, deed is done, a set are on their way from Germany as we type, so I’ll find out if it was a wise decision or not to save a few bucks!

I am sure you will be fine.

I’ve got some year old Deore 2012 brakes and a set of 6 month old XTs and they’ve been no problem at all. Its all ooking Rosey.de