I'm replacing a brifter which has a broken brake lever blade on a friend's bike. I can't track down the original RS 685, will a 105 ST-R7020 be a similar shape and pair nicely with the BH59 hose?
When it comes to bleeding it, do you need the little plastic adapter below the cup?
Very different shape to the levers. Yes, for all modern Shimano road/gravel brakes you need the adapter. The Bh59 should be fine even through it's not what's specified.
Thanks, is the difference in the hoods or the whole lot?
The shape of the whole shifter is different as are the actuation and routing. Most of the 5000/7000/8000/9000 range are smaller in the hoods and the RX range are similar in the hood, but MUCH shorter on the blades.
RS-685 levers are available on Ebay - about £150, if you just want one lever.
(seller Granniegear)
The lever arrived and is a pretty good match to the original. However I've run into a problem, the hose connection is different, the hose nut threads in but just spins. Had a look at the Shimano DM for the 7020 lever and it says you need a Flanged connecting bolt which doesn't come with the lever. I'm also connecting it to a BH59 hose, not sure if that's relevant, and if I get this Flanged connecting bolt will that work with the old hose?
Where to go from here? Found some discussion on another thread which explains the issue, with part numbers: https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/13106505/shimano-grx-brake-lever-parts
The lever arrived and is a pretty good match to the original. However I’ve run into a problem, the hose connection is different, the hose nut threads in but just spins. Had a look at the Shimano DM for the 7020 lever and it says you need a Flanged connecting bolt which doesn’t come with the lever. I’m also connecting it to a BH59 hose, not sure if that’s relevant, and if I get this Flanged connecting bolt will that work with the old hose?
Yup, I had the same problem and had to buy the connecting bolt separately for my R7020 levers. This is with BH90 hose though so I can't help with your BH59 question.
I've done a bit of digging, seems like I need SM-BH90-JK-SSR hose which has everything included.... I think.
Pretty sure that's what I bought, and the bolts were in the pack. Originally, I just bought the hose and then discovered I couldn't get the bolts separately at that time.
The flange connectors work with BH59 - just the insert differs between BH59 (gold insert) and BH90 (silver insert) to accomodate the slightly different bore size. Olives and tube outer diameter are the same.
If you don't want to get the full hose kit then
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brakes/shimano-smbh90-flange-connecting-bolt-m9-for-str8020-y8rd02000/
or