
Learn How To Bleed Shimano Brakes Without a Funnel
Let’s imagine you’re on a ride. You’re feeling great, filled with an energy that makes you want to go even further. Weather conditions are optimal. All of a sudden, you see a fine spot to take a rest. But when you pull the lever, you notice you need to pull it all the way to get to a stop.
Don’t panic; your bike is still the best. The entirely-easy-to-solve-problem may be that your brakes are asking to be bled. Don’t know how to do it? Let’s ride into it, then.
Shimano disc brakes require bleeding that highly depends on how often and, of course, how far you ride. In practice, this could be every 6-8 months or so. Bleeding Shimano brakes usually require a special funnel, so that you do not do a messy job and spill oil all around you. But if you don’t have one, you can also use a syringe. Just be careful once you’re done, and you need to unscrew the syringe from the bleeding port. Shimano offers a bleeding kit for you to do this as neatly as possible. You must always remember to take enough precautions to get all the air that has possibly entered the port out of it, and not inject it with the new oil.The video below shows how this is done (Courtesy of SickBiker):
Can I Use Tektro Mineral Oil in Shimano Brakes?
If by any chance, you do not happen to have Shimano oil for your brakes, that will not be a big problem. Tektro mineral oil is generally compatible with Shimano brakes.
Magura oil, on the other hand, is different, but not entirely incompatible. You may experience differences if you change to this kind of oil, and you may feel a change in the performance of your brakes. Yet, it will not be harmful to your accessories.
Can You Use Sram Rotors With Shimano Brakes?
We love combining our bikes’ accessories to make them feel different and to get the performance we want. Some brands or types of brakes may feel good when used as they originally come, but in time we tend to find things that could get improved by changing some of its parts.
Shimano brakes are not an exception to this rule, and many people claim to have found a solution to squealing sounds when brakes are wet. How? By using smaller rotors, such as Sram.
Even though you may feel that brakes are loose because of the smaller rotors, if everything is correctly set, your bikes’ performance will not be negatively affected when combining these two parts. Just be careful enough when you are setting it up, or get your trusted local bike store to assist you with the changes.