Anyone got the new M666 SLX’s? is the topcap shiny and chromed like the XT’s?

Anyone know if just swapping the levers over if you need to follow the guide posted earlier?

Push pistons out a bit, swap over, then push pistons back in?

I swapped and shortened mine, and didn’t bother pushing the pistons out. Should be ok if you’re careful. Takes a bit of force to undo nut at lever end, I couldn’t do it in my hand and had to use a spare bar.

Thanks to dez for putting the photos up, very useful.

It’ll mean you avoid the need to bleed ’em afterwards.

So it’s better to do it just in case

Howcome, when you pull the hose out of the lever end, fluid doesn’t just run out of the lever end and ruin it all?

Thats what I was wondering

air locked isn’t it – you’d need a breather hole somewhere else for air to replace the fluid coming out…

Anyone got the new M666 SLX’s? is the topcap shiny and chromed like the XT’s?

satin grey, much better IMO

Oh OK CP, thanks. I think I’ll put it off til tomorrow, it’ll be nice to have them working properly for at least a few hours more. 😉

The SLX topcap is also more angular in design – less bulbous.

So when just swapping levers over is it better to extract the piston a bit in push back in or not?

Still 100% sure

Pushed the pistons out a bit, swapped the levers over and now the rear piston won’t go back in!

Any suggestions?

Front was fine

Push the piston back in?

It won’t budge!

On side of the rear went in but the other appears stuck

Oh! I’d just come online to say I’ve just done it and to tell you there’s no need to push the pistons in. Seems like I was a bit too late.

Banana, the fluid is thicker than water & the hole is pretty small so its doesnt pi55 out.

Push piston back in with a plastic tyre lever, keep the pushing bit central on the piston, it may need some force but apply smoothly.

ps. PSA- Superstar sintered pads working great with my XTs.

Hard to not order a set of SLX’s for my DH bike…

Sorry, I meant ‘no need to push the pistons out’ (to clowner).

Clowner – tyre lever, as suggested, or screwdriver against the back of the opposite pad to the piston you’re trying to push in. (ie. so the pad surface is protected from the screwdriver)
You should be able to force it back.

Sorted now!

But what is up with the ‘tightening plates’ on the ice tech rotors?

Anyone heard from them as to when they are going to be back in stock? Ordered some yesterday and but nothing from them to say when they are expecting more

er……….so what does free stroke do? 😳

Got some SLX’s on route now! Arrived in the UK yesterday 😀

So, Monday night will be swappy time for me!

Free stroke adjusts how much the pads move for a given distance of lever movement.

I.e. all the way out means that the brakes do not engage until further into the lever throw. all the way in means that as soon as you touch the brakes, the pads make contact. in practical terms it only matters if you like it very much as the former.

anyone got a pic of the slx’s they can post so i can see what they look like in the flesh

How good is the reach adjust on these? Mainly on the SLX – can you adjust them so the bite is pretty close to the bar? If the freestroke is the only difference I’m tempted just to go for the SLX over the XT, but I do like to run my brakes quite close.

I’ve ordered a set of the SLX’s. Should be here sometime this week. Apparently the ‘free stroke’ screw on these is just a blanking screw… wondering if I can adapt them to work with ‘free stroke’. Any of you XT users care to remove your ‘free stroke’ screw so I can compare what the difference is?

mtb_slx_666_disc_brake_f[1] by ciderinsport, on Flickr

You don’t get the finned pads though from rose. Though for the price of XT F+R you could almost have SLX + Ice-Tech rotors F+R.

As regards freestroke adjustment, although the SLX has the screw, it doesn’t have the mechanism in the lever blade to allow adjustment~ if you look at the images above, there is a slot in the XT lever, which will effectively alter the pivot position and thus bite point. The SLX doesn’t have this, so there is one less thing to go wrong.

I have seen these picks but from my experinec these things look completely different when you see them in the flesh. Anyone got them on their bike yet. Also is there any weigth difference?

anyone know when these are going to be back in stock??

I got the XT’s and they weigh 578gms, that’s uncut hoses and including the brake pads and the 2 supplied bolts per caliper.

You don’t get the finned pads though from rose.

I think there is a thread on here were the guy is saying Merlin didn’t supply him with finned pads either, don’t know the price paid tho. I get the impression they were in the picture, so he expected to get them, he calls them ice-tech pads tho, but I assume he means the finned pads, not certain tho (I don’t think Ice-tech pads exist, do they?). HTH

Is that weight for both brakes or each?

for both I think, its impossible to weight more than 1000g both ; )

Yes, both brakes, both calipers, hoses uncut, pads, 2 bolts each (4 bolts) 🙂

9 pages long by heck…

I’ve got the cheap and cheerful Deore M596 brakes that look similar and have an adjuster for the stroke, but you just need an allen key instead of a little finger wheel adjuster. £40 each end is buttons from Parkers International.

I assume he means the finned pads, not certain tho (I don’t think Ice-tech pads exist, do they?)

At £25 a pair for resin pads, they can keep em