Hi everyone, welcome, or welcome back to my channel!
A lot of you asked me this question:
How do I install Shimano brakes straight out of the box?
So in this tutorial I'm going to cover the Deore, SLX, XTand XTR from the last two generations.
Two pot, four pot, they're all the same, so let's get to the
installation of the Shimano hydraulic disc brakes.
All Shimano brakes come prefilled with Shimano mineral oil
and it used to be that they were coming with all the hoses attached.
These days Shimano still ships their brakes filled with oil however
you have the lever separate from the hose
and I think that's a better option for a couple of reasons:
First of all, you avoid the step of cutting the attached hose
that would always be a bit too long.
Second, you get the option to install the levers the way you want them.
European or moto style versus North American style, they are different.
In this case you make the decision.
But if you're only ordering one brake
you got to be careful to order the appropriate left or right brake
because they will come with the 1 meter long hose for the front, 1.7 m for the rear.
With all that being said,
Step 1 is to take the user manual and I would say throw it away
but if you don't know the name of the parts take a look at it.
In here you typically have two installation bolts,
and one of those safety clips,
an insert,
front brake only, so only in one of the two boxes,
you're gonna get this bleeding block.
And it used to be that Shimano included these two halves with the front brake as well,
Not anymore, but we'll talk about this later as well.
The two bolts provided with each post mount caliper
may or may not be what you need.
The frame or the fork might be ready to accept 160 or 180 millimeter discs.
So if your frame is ready to accept an 160 m disc
just install your caliper like this and you'll be good to go.
If you want to install a bigger disc instead
you're gonna need two things:
one is this adapter here or spacer and two it's going to be longer bolts.
If you want to put 203 mm rotors
obviously this is going to be an even bigger spacer
but I'm gonna link these in the description below.
For example, here's a 180 mm disc
installed on a fork that accepts 180 as a minimum.
There is no need for the spacer and the short bolts provided can be used.
In contrast, this FOX fork can take an 160 mm as a minimum disc
so I had to use the adapter and longer screws for this 180 mm disc.
The rear brake installation is no different.
This frame is ready to accept 160 mm discs natively.
I have a 180 mm installed here so you can see the adapter and obviously the longer screws.
This is installed in what's called the POST mount, 74 mm apart threaded holes.
But if your frame only has these two threadless holes, 51 mm apart,
those are IS tabs or IS mounts and you see here a POST to IS adapter
that's needed in order to install these calipers.
Okay so with all those details out of the way it's time to install the brakes.
And obviously if you already have brakes installed
you will remove these first.
Front brake removal is very simple
because you only have this little clip attaching the hose to the fork.
The rear brake, as you're removing it, you might have to cut the hose
especially if the hose is routed internally
as you see it happening here on this Intense bike.
Routing hoses internally, especially brake hoses, is a bit of a pain
but I have a video on my channel talking specifically about that.
Shimano brakes, Deore and up, come with a two piece bar clamp,
so 4 mm hex to remove the screw or to install it afterwards.
and if you look here there is a little hole
that says Push to Open right next to it.
Use a 2 mm hex, push it in, and that releases your bar clamp.
This is an I-Spec II, but I-Spec B, I-Spec EV,
the newest one introduced by Shimano, are exactly the same.
If you were happy with the cable routing here upfront
then you can use the length of the previous houses as a template.
Cutting hoses is a transferable skill because you're going to have to do this
when installing the new brakes anyway.
What I usually use is a piece of wood and a sharp blade.
Try to push down at 90 degrees to the hose
and as soon as you do that
it cuts actually very quickly.
This is filled with oil so at this point oil my start dripping out of it.
And in my case, I'm going to attach a piece of dental floss to the end of it
before I pull it out of the frame.
There it goes.
With that rear hose routing figured out, it's time to install your levers
and for this step I highly recommend
that you have your grips installed as well
because you want the levers to be installed in the approximate final position.
That is because the length of brake hoses is it's going to depend on it.
Next, remove the pads from your calipers.
SLX and up are gonna have a retaining pad pin.
This is a 3 mm Allen / hex key.
Okay and here at the back you have a safety clip.
Remove that one, unscrew it,
and the pads are gonna come out from the top.
If you have a Deore type brake,
this one has a pin, we're gonna use needle nose pliers
to push it out
and then remove the pads.
And while we're here, if you look at the end of the hose
this is capped, so it won't leak oil.
When you run it through the frame.
leave this rubber end attached to it
and you're gonna see it has some holes in it.
So if you have a piece of string you can attach it there
and then guide the hose through the frame that way.
So pretty thoughtful design.
Next, install the caliper on the POST mounts.
Obviously depending on the size of the rotor
you might have to use some of the spacers like I mentioned earlier.
for these bolts you're gonna need a 5 mm hex key
don't tighten them up yet.
These calipers are made out of two pieces.
You see the joint right there.
Well, make sure you line that up with the center of your disc
if you see on the camera here
my disc is perfectly aligned with the caliper
and you do that because you want the two pistons to do equal work
when it comes to stopping power.
So do that, and as you tighten it,
just do it a little bit on each side, because otherwise the caliper are gonna start slipping around.
Very important step!
And for those that care about aesthetics,
you might want to change this banjo orientation the way you like it.
In my case I'm gonna loosen it up.
It's a 4 mm Allen key by the way, here we go,
and I'm gonna move it up a little bit.
Front caliper is centered to the disc as well,
the banjo is parallel to the fork leg.
This is an M7000 SLX,
if this was an M 7100 SLX,
this banjo would be black and it would be on the other side of the caliper
but the torque is 5-6 Nm.
By the way I have a video talking about calipers compatibility between series
and all that kind of information, so make sure you check it out!
Next, I've attached the hose to that retaining clip
so the bottom end of the hose is in the perfect position right now.
Rear brake hose gets routed using tabs
in my case it went internally.
All that's important because next we're going to attach the hoses to the levers
and once you cut them you cannot uncut them, can you?
Smart alec, I know...
In order to continue you're gonna need a couple of tools
so make sure you have them.
8 mm wrench,
then in each brake you're gonna have one of these inserts,
and also a rubber boot,
you're gonna need the ability to cut through a hose,
you saw me using the exacto knife and a piece of wood,
other people use something like this which is a hose cutter,
or even a cable and housing cutter
you're gonna need a hammer to pound this insert into the hose
but these tools here are needed to actually hold on to the hose
as you're doing that.
In the past Shimano included this yellow block
so you'll hold on to your hose.
We don't have this inserted in the box anymore
and it doesn't make any sense to buy the tool that they offer right now.
Today I'm going to try this, which is a piece of tube and pliers,
and I'm gonna try the same thing
just to pound this in and it should work just fine.
As I remove this rubber tip
you're gonna see this mark on there hose, the witness mark,
that tells you how far in this hose is going to go when properly inserted .
And the very next thing, please, please grab this rubber boot
and slide it down the hose.
Do it now or ask me how I know about this one, okay? :)
And now we can decide how long we want this front brake hose to be.
Front is usually fairly simple.
For the rear hose you want to think about how it's gonna run
together with your shifter cable
and also, you want to make sure that as your handlebars rotate,
let's say if you fall, you can do at least something like this.
I measured a couple of times,
Here it goes.
And if you point this up you shouldn't have any spilled oil whatsoever.
We're gonna get the insert
and just tap this in.
You're gonna push it in all the way until it's flush with the hose.
Next remove this yellow plug
and that's where your hose is gonna go, you could see oil dripping out.
Grab your 8 mm wrench and start tightening,
and continue to push on the hose as you are tightening this retaining nut.
Tighten until snug, then give it another 1/8 of a turn, and stop right there.
There is a little bit of oil that's spilled here
but hopefully we didn't get that much air inside the brakes.
So Isopropyl alcohol to clean it up,
slide over the rubber boot and this brake is ready to go!
Some recommend inserting the hoses with the lever up to limit the oil spill.
However don't tighten it in that position
as the hose is going to twist when moving the lever down to position.
and you might not like that.
Time to reinstall your brake pads
and your pad retaining pin.
By the way, I have a full video talking about brake pads,
when and how to replace, make sure to check that out!
Don't forget that little safety clip.
And you're ready to remove that lever stopper
and as you pump it a little bit, this should start getting harder
and it is right now.
If the brake feels spongy in any way
and it doesn't harden as you pull on the lever
it means that you got air here in the master cylinder
so you're gonna need a quick bleed.
I have a full video on how to shorten hoses
make sure you check it out!
If you are unsure about adjusting the angle here
just put it about 45 degrees to the ground as a starting point.
Also, the reach should be adjusted properly.
In this case you have an adjusting knob
so this should be right here on your knuckle in a normal lever position.
If you don't have the knob, you're probably going to have an Allen key
to make this adjustment
If you have the ability, I always recommend integrating your shifter with your brake lever,
because it looks a lot nicer.
So in this case I have an I-Spec II adaptor to SRAM shifter.
And one more thing before you hit the slopes:
clean your disc with a bit of alcohol
and remember to bed in these brakes.
SRAM has a very good video on how to do that I'm gonna post it in the description.
And that's all there is to installing Shimano brakes in 2020!
What do you guys think?
Have any questions for me?
I'm gonna put a lot of links for videos and parts in the description below,
make sure to check them out!
If you found this video useful
don't forget to like, subscribe keep an eye on social media,
and until next time,
hope to see you folks on the trails,
hopefully riding with Shimano brakes.
Cheers guys, cheers!