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Hi, i'm having a problem with a Shimano SLX Brakeset, The Lever has a lot of travel and although they lock up the wheel, the lever nearly reaches the bars.
I have tried bleeding the system but to no avail. The fluid however did/does look quite murky, should i drain the system fully and re-start?
What method do people use? syringe from the bottom? Lever pull and bleed nipple open/close?
Thanks in advance
I used a syringe to pump fluid in from the bottom, then burped them a bit. Seemed to do the trick.
syringe into the caliper, caliper a long way below the lever, keep pushing it through until the fluid in the top is clean.
use another syringe to hoover the excess fluid from the top.
remember that bubbles rise, hold the caliper so that the hose/nipple point upwards.
don't forget to pull back on the syringe a little every now and then so that any bubbles trying to rise up through the nipple can escape.
Bleed from the top, no syringe needed, must be loads of threads on here about this method. You need a piece of tube and a polythene bag attached to the caliper bleed nipple to catch the fluid flushed through. Much simpler than syringes and no need to point the caliper in the right direction, just leave on the bike and get the lever reservoir level.
There's not a lot of fluid in brake systems so it really doesn't take much to flush them through with fresh fluid.
You should be able to get a very solid feel. A lot of lever travel suggests air in the system.
Here is the top down method (apologies for another bike forum link!?) and just make sure you top up the reservoir before you pump it empty.
[url= http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15308707 ]SLX Bleed top down[/url]
i confess i've never tried the 'top-down' method.
because:
a) bubbles rise
b) it seems you have to keep opening/closing the bleed nipple.
i understand that the responses to a) and b) are:
a) it doesn't seem to matter
b) this isn't a huge problem is it?
but it still sounds like a proper faff.
Spock; if you live in sheffield, i will bleed your brakes in return for cake.
loads of previous threads on here. Having read most of them and tried most too, what works on my new XT's is bottom up, then top down immediately, with the detailed methods as described above. One way on it's own dioesn't seem to do it, but if you do both then they are great.