A pair of hydraulic disc brakes for £80 seems a nicer option for the bike I'm building for my partner than cheap mechanicals, so the Shimano BRM-445s look a goer. They're non-series components but look very similar to the standard straight insert Shimano brakes (like my M585s and M595s).
One strange difference though is that, in the [url= http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/BL/EV-BL-M445-2994_v1_m56577569830702224.pdf ]technical documents[/url] the resevoir cap is shown with an oil port in it along with two tools I've not seen before, an oil funnel and oil stopper (that looks like a stick and a couple of washers). There are instructions about ensuring that you read the bleed documents, unfortunately they don't seem to be available.
The resevoir cap is removable as with other Shimano brakes and the pictures that the retailer has online clearly show a straight insert caliper with a bleed nipple on the left had side (very similar to my M595s).
I'm not that experienced with hydraulic brakes but it looks like the oil port just allows oil into the resevoir without removing the resevoir cap. I could be wrong though and although I can work out what the funnel is for, the 'oil stopper' remains a mystery.
So doesn anyone have experience of BRM-445s? Are these reasonable brakes for the money (a better option than BB5s) and can I simply ignore the oil port and associated tools, remove the resevoir cap and do a top-down or syringe based bottom-up bleed as I would with my M595s (obviously if I fit these brakes to my partner's bike I want them to be safe)?
It sounds like they are meant to be bled like the BR-M575, with a cup and screw tool.
[url= http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/Bleeding_SI/SI_0061A/SI-0061A-002-ENG_v1_m56577569830677008.pdf ]SEE HERE[/url]
Okay, but that's essentially a standard bottom-up bleed. The cup simply seems to catch overflow from the resevoir without removing the cap, and the stopper stops oil spillage from the cup when it's removed. Do you actually need the cup and stopper tool or could you simply remove the resevoir cover? If not where can I get the appropriate tools?