- When it comes to brakes, there's one thing
that I really like, and I'm super pernickety about this.
I like them to be absolutely rock solid, really firm,
and when it comes that bite point, they're grabby.
They dig into the ground, and really slow you down,
but it can be really hard to actually do this,
and in this video I'm gonna talk exactly about that,
how to get your brakes dialled, bled,
and feeling super strong.
(upbeat music)
So, the tools that you're gonna need are
a range of allen keys, bleed systems specific to your brake,
some zip ties, and then some cable snips.
Okay, so I can tell that the brake actually needs
a little bit of attention, because when I actually
go up to the lever and pull the brake in itself,
the lever goes straight to the grip.
If I pump it a few times, (bike handle clicking)
then it goes rock solid again.
So, there's obviously some air in the system.
The first thing that I'm gonna do is
do a full bleed of the system,
but we've already got a video on how to do that.
So, let's get to it (snapping fingers).
So, that's the brake all bled.
Now, I've got a little bit of air
actually come out of the system.
So, hopefully that's just cleaned the whole thing out,
got that air up towards it, but it's still
not 100% firm, and this is really where
my top tips are gonna come in.
The first thing that I want you guys to do
is I want you to loosen off that calliper right here.
Just tighten it so you can actually
wiggle it back and forth on the brake body itself.
Okay, so with that calliper loosened off,
what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna come up to the brake lever,
pump up a few times, and I'm gonna send
to the calliper onto the disc itself,
pulling that in, and then just gonna tighten this up,
and hopefully that's gonna line up perfectly,
cause what I'm trying to do here
is make sure that all the pistons are working
evenly, independent of each other.
I'm gonna take a look down into the brake rotor now.
I can actually see that it's not quite centred.
So, I'm gonna have to adjust this one by hand.
Gonna undo the bolts again.
Come back in, and then just do it by hand
looking right through the brake pad itself,
making sure that I can see a gap between
the rotor and the pads, and then once
I've got that centred, gonna hold it down
and tighten up loosely, and then do
that exact same thing for the other side
until I've got it perfectly.
You might not get this first time.
So, it might just take a couple of goes.
Okay, so now that we've got this centred
it's just a case of making sure that that rotor
is actually running free, and it's not catching
on the disc pads themselves.
We're looking good there, and then one final check
is just squeezing that lever.
We're gonna make sure that they're both working evenly.
I can see straight away that they are.
So, we're good to get onto the next step.
So, before we go on to really making that brake feel solid,
there's one final check that I want you guys to do,
is to check all these little bleed nipples
where the hose mount onto the calliper,
and also up in the brake lever
that all these bolts are really tight,
they're done up, and that no air
can actually get into them, causing the brake
to actually build up a little bit of air,
and that is what is gonna cause that brake
to come into the bite, cause there's air in the system.
So, if you haven't already, you're going to
have to put on this sort of bleed bucket right now.
Now, the Shimano brake takes this one.
Pop in a little bit of fluid.
If you're running a slightly different brake
then just check out the manufacturer's recommendations.
All you'll want to do is pop a tiny little bit of fluid,
and then this is when the hack starts to happen.
Okay, so now what you want to do is get that allen key,
and you're just gonna start pumping the brake.
Pump it quite a lot, and then you're just gonna
go around every part of the brake just tapping it,
making sure that there's no air actually trapped
behind pistons, sort of any of the assembly part
of the hose, and we're just gonna do that
all the way along the hose right up to the lever,
and just keep going until we start to see
some little tiny air bubbles coming up through this bucket.
Okay, so once you've done that a number of times,
just keep going back and forth,
or working all the way from the calliper
right up to the lever, and make sure,
it's one of the, this is one key point,
you want to have that calliper below the lever,
and then we're gonna get onto this,
and we're just gonna get a zip tie.
Zip tie it actually around the lever onto the grip,
and we just locked it up, keep it in place,
and then we're just gonna do the whole procedure
of just actually tapping it right from the bottom
all the way up to the top again.
(plastic knocking)
And, then we're just gonna leave it for five minutes,
and go make a brew.
How are we looking?
Let's cut that cable tie off
and see if there are any bubbles.
We're looking pretty good.
What you basically want to find is
that when you pump that lever there are
absolutely no bubbles coming up through the system.
That ensures that it's gonna be really firm,
and that you've actually got them
all the way from down at the piston,
all the way up through the lever,
and it's running pretty damn clear.
Okay, there we go.
So, some of my very favourite hacks
to get the brakes feeling absolutely super strong.
If you guys have got any, then please leave em
in the comments down below.
We love checking that stuff out.
We're gonna take that off, put the cap back on,
and then I'm ready to ride.
Don't forget to subscribe to GMBN,
because you'll never miss a video again,
and if you want to watch some more videos
about braking, then make sure you hit down there
for how to bleed your brakes.
Hit just there for braking effectively,
and give this video a thumb up like.
All that remains is to drink my tea.
Oh, and if you want to get a mug,
then just click up there to the shop
and you'll get one just like this.
(gulping)
Ah, right on.