Forum menu
Hi, my slx brakes (m675) have always had a lot of travel in the lever before anything happens braking wise. Nothing at all for the first half of the lever movement. Brakes engage a bit at about half way and pull fairly easily all the way to the bar for full locking up. Is this normal, had them bled at a shop when i got them and they said that its normal but im not so sure, thinking of going to another shop to get them to try again but not sure if it will actually make any difference?
What rotors are you using? I had the same problem when I used my old avid rotors with my new slx brakes, things improved a lot when I changed to superstar rotors.
I've found the pistons will happily 'back-off' when you're hitting bumps and not braking, this means the first pull of the brake is 'dead' as it's taking the slack out of the system, pushing the pistons out, closer to the disc and allowing the second pull to create a firm lever exactly where they are set up to be. I don't really notice this any more, just part of the procedure. It is interesting when panic braking though...
Im using shimano floating rotors, newish ones. Yes you have to pump the brakes a bit at first so the pistons move closer to the rotor but even once the pistons are pushed closer to the disc there seems to be quite a bit of lever movement before they bite. Are they supposed to be like this? Chap in bike shop said to change the reach on the lever so they are further from the bars but i can obviously only move them so far away whilst still being able to reach them!
My SLX don't need any pumping ever, no matter how they are used, they're pin sharp and there's hardly any movement before they start biting. I'm using slx 6-bolt rotors, not that the mounting method matters. They may not have been bled properly. Also, if they have been bled properly you can cheat them into biting sooner by taking out your wheels, gently pumping the lever to move the pads out a bit, then putting the wheels back in. This really works, and I've done it with both SLX and Deore with great results.
I had same issue.. Just pop each wheel out and pull the levers to push Pistons out leaving room for rotor to fit back in between pads .. All good 🙂
There's an echo in here 😀
Mine also act like this, and have stayed the same after a bleed. It's not something I notice on the bike really, and fortunately I've always had a preference for quite a lot of lever movement before the bite point.
Oh aye carry on 😉
Calipers aligned/central to discs, pistons also balanced/central?
If not you'll get excessive lever travel.
Taking the wheel out and pumping piston out a bit worked great on the back but not really on the front. Think one of the pistons is pumping out a bit more than the other on the front.