more lever throw on rear disk brake?

just bled my brakes (SLX with servowave levers) now I have slightly more lever throw on the rear brake than on the front.

They feel solid so I'm not sure I'll bleed them again but just wondered what I'd done wrong to cause this. Anybody know?

I did the 'normal' shimano bleed (remove pads, bung in the yellow plastic thing, then bleed top-down by opening/closing the bleep nipple).

All I can think of is that maybe the cylinders on the calliper were pushed out far enough or something.

The reach adjust is set at full on both so it's not that

Ta!

Oddly my XTs have this too, despite several re-bleeds its still the same. It works fine, but just slightly more lever throw….
Any (useful) suggestions please?

My Juicy 7's are the same – I've just gotten used to it.

Alexona.. your juicy 7s have adjustable bite points

Is there an adjuster for lever throw on servowaves like the old ones had where you can play with a grub srcew to set bite point?

My XT's are exactly the same too! Thought it was my crap bleeding skills!

It might be because the rear hose is longer than the front.

Is there an adjuster for lever throw on servowaves like the old ones had where you can play with a grub srcew to set bite point?

There's a big adjuster on the lever which sets the reach, but I don't know if you can adjust the throw.

I kinda meant the bite point? old one have a grub screw wind it in and they bite earlier in the lever stroke/throw, out and its opposite? Do they have that and reach adjustment now?

It might be because the rear hose is longer than the front.

Same with my Hope Tech X2. I'm guessing it's this, as the rear hose is twice the length and the microscopic flexing of the walls affects the pull slightly.

If that was the reason surely all brakes would do that.

oldgit, yours def have bite point adjustment unless your using balloons instead of hoses you can tweek yours.

I found this, they are talking about saint servowave but ther is mention of another adjusting screw other than the reach adjustment.

The servo wave lever Shimano has beefed up as well. It features tool free reach adjust and also has a free stroke screw that can be adjusted to help in setting up the bite point of the brakes. The tool free reach adjust worked as advertised but the free stroke screw didn’t have quite the impact on the setup as we’d have liked. To set up the brakes for us Shimano used the bleeding to dial in the point at which the brakes engaged and the free stroke isn’t as blatant at adjusting the bite point as Avid or Formula systems..

Mine are the other way round (Avids though)

Perhaps I've misunderstood 'more lever throw'. By this, I mean that although the bite point on mine starts at the same place, the rear brake lever can be pulled back a tad further than the front with the same force.

You prob recessed your pistons in your rear caliper slightly more than in your front last time you bled them. Stick some more fluid in the rear line, bingo.

Might have some air trapped somewhere. Try re-bleeding using the syringe method.

I have exactly the same with my Hope tech M4's. I was wondering why this was myself. As it's pretty common, the extra length of the rear hose does seem a logical answer.

The rear brake on our tandem shows this problem up even worse with a hose that's twice as long as a normal rear hose.

Surely the distance of the brake line shouldn't matter? As long as the pipes are full, the same amount of pressure should result in the same amount of fluid movement and therefore the same piston movement at the caliper end?
Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick…….

Surely the distance of the brake line shouldn't matter? As long as the pipes are full, the same amount of pressure should result in the same amount of fluid movement and therefore the same piston movement at the caliper end?
Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick…….

You're spot on there, it should (and used to be) the same

I reckon ADH might be right on this one, i'll give them another bleed with the pistons slightly further out, see if it evens them up

When the lever is pulled hard and the pads are touching the rotor strongly, surely there is pressure within the hoses, albeit a tiny amount. This would cause minute flexing and expansion of the hoses and the longer the hoses, the more the minute expansion would effect the feel of the lever.

EIASF's posting about the tandem hose surely confirms this.

Perhaps I've misunderstood 'more lever throw'. By this, I mean that although the bite point on mine starts at the same place, the rear brake lever can be pulled back a tad further than the front with the same force.

bleed it again, I think – there's no reason for the rear to be "worse" than the front if the system contains only new fluid & no air/water (edit – unless shimano's hoses are utter kack)

SO it can only really be eiher the piston being more recessed into the caliper or Shimano hoses being crap. I'd put my money on the recessed idea and will be changing it tonight!

I've bled it about 6 times already – there's no air in there.

BTW, they're Hope and not Shimano hoses.

It's not actually 'worse', it's just that you have to pull the rear lever up a tad more, something that I can live with.

I'm tempted to switch hoses to levers, just to see what diffo it makes, although I suspect none.

It could be that the seals at one end are running more freely than the others. This will cause more or less "roll back" as the pads pull away from the rotor.