New pads/discs/bleed – slight drag

I’m sure I’m overthinking this and it’s infinitely easier on the car than it is the bike, so forgive what’s hopefully an easy question.

My trusty gravel bike (Pinnacle Arkose 2 2015) has been on its original brakes for the last 3000 miles and 8 years, thought I’d treat it to a new set and bleed them at the same time. They’re TRP Hylex; Tektro and TRP are a pain in the arse with the fitments to bleed in comparison to Shimano, but got it all done OK. FWIW, the fluid looked crystal clear.

Fitted my new discs, all good. Then tried to fit my Clarks pads (Shimano B01 equivalent). Couldn’t get them in due to the disc.

Took the wheel off, put pads in, tried to get wheel and disc back in – no go. Several attempts later, I’ve managed to push the piston back in a smidge and reassemble, but I’ve got a bit of brake drag now.

If this was the car, I’d not be bothered as I know A) I’ve pushed the piston as far in as it’ll go and B) within 100 miles, the slight rub/drag will have worn off anyway.

Turned the bike upside down, the wheels will do a few rotations by hand, and if you turn the pedals, it’ll carry on spinning a good while, but there’s an audible/visible drag.

Do I:

A) Just ride the damned thing and put in a bit more effort for the next 50 miles?

B) Do some form of mini bleed to get a bit of fluid out so I can try and push the piston in further?

If B – what’s the right route? Wasn’t sure whether to loosen the bleed port at the caliper and let a bit out, or loosen the port at the lever and (I guess) squeeze the lever slightly and keep it held down while doing up the bleed port?

Thank you

I’m going for B2.

IANABM… But I really need to do the same with my Formula Cura.

I would open the bleed port on the lever, and try to push the pistons in further.

If you can attach a little bucket to it (like for Shimanos, I’m not familiar with Hylexs), I’d do that, with a little bit of fluid in, to make sure you don’t accidentally introduce any air in the process.

Alternatively, if you’re happy with (A) as an option, I might just take a file to the brake pads.

Thanks both. I don’t think I can get the bucket on there as there’s the drop hoods in the way and haven’t got a long enough extension in my bleed kit (used the two syringe method yesterday)

I’ll have another look at getting a bit of fluid out.

Not familiar with those brakes but the Shimano equivalent would be to remove the bleed screw on the lever (rotate the bike/bars first to keep this level to the ground) then push the pistons with something plastic (tyre lever). You don’t need to remove loads of fluid, it will probably just well up around the bleed screw when you re-insert.

Sounds like they’re slightly overfilled, so B2 as reeksy says

but, honestly, it’s A for me

I’m familiar with the Hylex, maybe just try backing the reach adjust screw off a wee bit?
(2mm hex key at the top of the lever blade IIRC),count the turns as a little can change quite a lot.

They’re quite a basic design and the reach adjuster is basically just the end of the master cylinder, if it’s freshly bled backing that off will add a smidge of volume to the system.

Note: this will also affect bite point and reach on those levers, so roll up and down the street a couple of times to ensure you’re happy before taking them out for a ride…

Thanks all. Backed the screw out as above by 1 full turn on both sides, just as a test measure. The front wheel spins around for a good 10 seconds or so, the rear for longer once driven.

I’ll take it out for a couple of rides and if a problem, now I know what to do (lever port cover off, push pistons back).