OK, short towpath ride and found that on the GF's bike the brakes ("old" style Shimano) were squealing like mad (it's not been ridden for a while, and it's definitely the brakes not her!) so had the pads out, and the stopping material was well and truly contaminated with what I can only assume to be mineral oil? The pads were new about six months ago and the bike hadn't been ridden until now. The level in the reservoir is about halfway full but not sure if that can be accounted for by the wotsit that displaces everything when you screw the cap back in?

Does this suggest that the seals are gone in the calipers do we think? If so how desperately hard are they to replace?? Am loathe to put new pads in if they're going to end up the same way…

TIA, as ever 🙂

replace – new calipers bud

for this exact reason i have not speced shimano brakes on anything ive built since it happened to me

I tried to source some square seals from a bearing and seal supplier but they didnt have anything with a suitable lip. i believe sunset MTBs mechanic had the same idea as me,

basically planned obscelecence

hope for me now – they still carry spares for their C2 brake originally manufactured in the early 90s !

You're off my Christmas card list now trail_rat 😥

*sobs*

[Edit]Note to self: write Christmas card list[/Edit]

dont shoot the messenger 🙁

i was tempted just to get some seals that were slightly t too "deep" to negate the need for a lip – then decided that brakes were pretty critical safety items and scrapped them…..

I'll let you off 😉

Of course, I have fitted stoopid flappy shifters to her indoors' bike so it's not as if I can just replace with a new set of brakes either, would simply have to buy some shifters too.

watch CRC and merlin – they sometimes sell off calipers cheaply – like 20 quid cheap

on one were doing lx for £10 in last sale

there you go , cheaper than a quality set of pads

there you go , cheaper than a quality set of pads

Doesn't look like they still have them, unsurprisingly!!

Am I being a div here, just on CRC they say their LX caliper is…

160mm Post/IS Mount – Front

Surely the calipers are the same front and rear? Aren't they?? Does "front" mean it doesn't include a post->IS mount perhaps?

its the same caliper the adaptor is difference !