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My faultless all year Shimano, has on the last ride started doing the variable reach feature they all seem to come with as a free optional extra, one minute where I set them with a lovely feel, the next they're crushing the grip..
Ive a feeling its a little down to pad wear, and wheel out, gentle squeeze, wheel back in and a bubble bleed will probably sort them temporarily, but reading threads on here all year, I fear it will be temporary too.
So my next question what would singletrack do stylee, is what hydraulic brake, that aint gonna cost more than the original purchase of the bike "cough not Hope cough"
I'm leaning towards something by Magura, but will these lead to killing baby Sabre toothed chickens or something?
They'll just need bled by the sounds of it. If you had duff levers they would have shown that from the get go.
As above, bleed them (which can be tricky to get right) and they'll be fine.
Main problem with the Shimano levers is the seals swelling which stops the lever returning properly, if they're not doing that you'll be right
In my experinance, you can't run Shimano pads to the metal, not on my XTs nor my previous Deores anyway, once they're 70% worn give-or-take I have to replace them. Not sure that's a design feature or fault - but It suits me tbh, I still only get through maybe 2 sets a year.
My experience is the piston seals will be leaking. If you spot a leak just ride the 2 year shimano warranty wave and never have to buy a new brake again! 🙂
Leaky seal would lead to loss of braking power (and lots of noise) rather than increased lever stroke.
I've had M785 XT on all of my three bikes for a few years.
Initially they were great. I loved the immediate feel.
HOWEVER... Every set has since gone back under warranty. They all started to get temperamental at approaching the two year stage.
The key symptom (aside from the obvious bit - the bite point all over the place) was that when bleeding, lots of black mucky fluid came up from the lever into the funnel. I put this down to seal degradation.
Warrantied. Replaced. Sold the new warranty replacements. Bought another brand.
Hmmm warranty i hear you say?
Looks like a trip to Hellfrauds is in order after work, the reciept and bike user manuals are all in the docs folder in the van
They might think im taking the piss a bit when they see the state of the bike, it gets ridden - hard- not looked at!
Sram Guide RS have been great for me so far. Ridden through all sorts of muck and rain and kept coming back for more. Had a year and a half and on 3rd set of pads. Did a bleed on last pad change and all perfect. Original pads were organic - pads since then have been sintered.
lots of black mucky fluid came up from the lever into the funnel. I put this down to seal degradation.
Get that on my 10 year old 525s, still work fine.