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Shimano Disc Brake Bleed Kit

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Good evening and Happy New Years!!! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday with friends, family and partners. I certainly know I did.

So, as the title of the post states, I have some questions about Shimano brake bleed kits. On a standard Google search, the first kit that comes up is the Shimano Pro. Bleed kit. It looks fine, but is it? In other members experience, is this kit a solid choice or is there a better option?

Extra info - Shimano Deore 4 pod brakes
Image


www.theinsideline.ca

Shimano TL-BR Professional Bleed Kit

Keep your brakes in good condition to stop your bike when you need it
www.theinsideline.ca www.theinsideline.ca
 
#2 ·
By "pro", they mean shitty plastic cups instead of metal.

Shimano brakes come with the bleed blocks and a shop can probably give you some for free. All you need is the cup and a syringe. And it's a crappy cup that shimano makes that easily cross-threads because it's cheap plastic. It is not what I think of when I think "pro".
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Meh... definitely not a value at $110 (CAD ?), I got a kit from Amazon that did the trick for around $25 USD, here is a link that shows lots of kits in that range, most include the brake fluid, some for both Shimano & SRAM : Brake Bleed Kits For Shimano. FWIW, I recommend getting a kit that has clear cups & syringes. I find it very helpful to be able to see bubbles & fluid levels while bleeding the brakes.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Guys, I complete agree on the crappy plastic cup and the cost. For what you get in that kit, it’s ****.

Here’s another kit I’m looking at. Are they good? How do you know. The price is right and the kit looks pretty good.


With that said, I am open to suggestions, including kits from Amazon. I just want something that works

https://soshanger.ca/en/home/3797-bleedkit-shimano-premium-red-mtb-bk-28022.html
 
#5 ·
I have had this kit for a long time, close to 10yrs l think

Image


I believe its the "simple kit", l already had the brake blocks etc therefore didnt need the "Pro Kit". Edit: ha it says Basic Kit on the front 🤦🏻‍♂️

As for the plastic cup, try not to be a hamfisted neanderthal and it works totally fine 🤷🏻‍♂️, mine is still perfect
 
#7 ·
The newer version of the Shimano Funnel is actually a big improvement over the original. It's still plastic but it's larger and stronger. That "Pro" kit is a rip off though, that's an AliExpress $2 Syringe. I'd rather spend the money on a Park Tool kit or a Epic Bleed Solutions kit.
 
#9 ·
I bought the Shimano pro kit and like it overall. The syringe is nicer in the pro kit than the basic kit, but they both will do the job just fine. If you have road bikes with disc brakes the pro kit comes with both funnel sizes, which is nice.
 
#10 ·
I have both the Shimano and the Amazon kit (there are like 10 that are the same). The Amazon kit does exactly the same thing as the Shimano kit, perhaps even nicer. They are all cheap plastic.

Make sure you don’t put too much brake oil in, Shimano are easy to bleed but finicky to oil levels and I had cracked many ceramic pistons before I learned how finicky they were.
 
#13 ·
Loll said:
if you do a gravity bleed, you dont need half of the items in the picture.

just the cup, block, and the tube.
Click to expand...
IIRC, you only need to use the syringe when filling an empty brake, attaching to the caliper and filling up to the lever. I've only had to do that once, the rest of the bleeds/fluid changes are all gravity bleeds using only the cup and the catch bottle (y)
 
#15 ·
imho
get EZmtb bleed kits

--

many adapters, fits all brake sets

two powerful syringes (can make strong vacuum)

cheap, like 20 bucks for a kit far better than most others
 
#18 ·
I picked up one of the inexpensive amazon kits. I like this one because the thread on adapters are all metal as opposed to some of the cheapos using all plastic bits. This one also has parts to adapt to all current mineral oil brakes and has all the blocks and spacers you need. Works great, I have no complaints. Eventually I will upgrade to the Park set or something nicer, or maybe not.
bleed kit
 
#19 ·
It should do the trick. And you really don’t need to tighten the thread when screwing the cup to the lever very tight at all. As soon as there is some resistance on the rubber o ring stop.

Cross threading them is normally user error over tightening them to be fair.

I use the total bleed solutions kit in the uk but all the same principle.

you’ll also need a tiny (7mm I think) ring spanner for the bleed port (much easier than an adjustable spanner.)
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Good afternoon, thank you all for the great suggestions. I did find a thread made last year that many of you posted in - my apologies for not searching enough before posting this thread. Either way, thanx!!

Juansan said:
Bleedkit.com Quality parts, makes bleeding a joy.
Click to expand...
In my second post, I have a link to a Bleedkit.com kit. I was unsure about them and their website doesn’t look updated since 2022. Thanx for the suggestion

127.0.0.1 said:
imho
get EZmtb bleed kits
Click to expand...
I’ve seen these on Amazon and I was unsure about them, so thank you for recommending these kits!! One I was eyeballing was this one because of the clear cup.



NorCalTaz said:
Just a thought on the plastic cups, while the threads are more vulnerable to cross-threading, the component that is cross-threaded is not the expensive brake master cylinder/lever
Click to expand...
I do agree with this whole heartedly as well. The plastics does make sense when you think of it in these terms. In this application, it will be likely that I’ll use it more than a few times. I do think it’s ridiculous that it cost over 100 CAD here when most of the Amazon based ones, or a few others will do the same thing for half the price. If I’m willing to spend 100.00 already, I may as well get the ParkTool bleed kit.
 
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