Looking on ebay to buy some mineral oil for my shimano brakes and magura clutch on my motorbike… I see if I search mineral oil lots of “pure mineral oil” results pop back and it’s very cheap compared to the stuff labeled “brake” and dyed red…. is this the same stuff and just hype or will I die if I use the stuff labelled as food safe?

I’m looking at one called “Pure Mineral Oil – Food Safe – Ideal for Wood, Slate & Stone”

Halfords brake fluid for citroens etc is mineral and green.

Use of non shimano specific does invalidate warranty though.

I used to swear by baby oil. Even smells nice.

Castrol LHM+ works a treat on shimano brakes.

Problem is the viscosities can be different. which can lead to leaks or seal problems.

The citroen stuff is higher viscosity than the shimano stuff.

not sure about brake and clutch fluid but for example on suspension fluids you get anti-foaming additives amongst other additives. Obviously for food use you dont want these kinds of things.

Citroen LHM is cheap and is about right.

Non Shimano oil is a warranty breaker for them, though

regarding pure mineral oil for humans: http://www.peterverdone.com/archive/bikemineraloil.htm

http://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=140344

I’ve used it for 2 years with no problems.

tbh I just bought 1L of shimano stuff years ago. It will last me years and the cost per litre was a lot lower than the smaller quantities.

Why would you not buy genuine brake fluid? Are you that worried about saving £1? Surely the warranty on your brakes is worth more than that?

Halfords LMH 1l, £12.99:
http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/engine-oils-fluids/brake-clutch-fluid/comma-l-h-m–plus-1l

Shimano Mineral Oil 1l, £13.99:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-mineral-oil/rp-prod5620

Halfords brake fluid for citroens etc is mineral and green.

I used to swear by that stuff. But in the cold weather it becomes quite thick which makes bleeding the brakes a pain in the teats. Also I’m sure it’s worse than Shimano for sticky pistons.
Next time you do a bleed, check the stuff which comes out. Bet it has a slightly ‘tacky’ feel on your fingers. (Maybe I was leaving it too long between fluid changes, or water was getting in?)

As above. 1l bottle of Shimano stuff from CRC / Wiggle will last years. It also makes it easier to do a full oil purge / replacement when you have a decent quantity, especially if you are using the Epic bleed kit method.

Thanks for the replies – to be fair that 1litre offer on crc is fine so I’ll just go with that – good shout on the viscosity and what they get mixed with

Mineral oils are individual manufacturer standards and not homogeneous standards like DOT fluid. Without lab analysis there’s no reason to believe Citroën LHM, Halfords, Magura and Shimano have anything in common apart from similar names.

There are Web articles out there doing basic boil tests on most and iirc they found clear differences in boiling point between the different oils, so it’s reasonable to assume there are other differences.

As elsewhere, if you return shimano stuff and they find non shimano oil in there (assuming they look) you have no warranty as they have no reason to believe your different oil hasn’t attacked the seals they specified to work with their oil. Litre bottles are only about £13 and last forever. It’s not like DOT where big bottles are hugely wasteful…

I topped up a deore rear brake with 3in1 oil about 8 or 9 years ago, desperation and being skint were the main reasons. Replaced the pads a couple of times since then, and its . . . Fine.
At Your own risk etc etc.

Yep the big bottles of shimano stuff are great. It’s not in the least bit hygroscopic (unlike DOT fluids) so can be stored indefinitely. Hardly worth the risk of using something else.