[slashnick]

I've had my bike for a little over a year now and it has hydraulic disc brakes on it. I haven't really noticed any loss of breaking power, but I was wondering how often they should be serviced as far as adding fluid, changing fluid or any thing else.

 

[nnn]

Ideally you only change fluid and re-bleed when changing the brake lines. Otherwise every .. what ? couple of years maybe, depends really that's the beauty of hydro's.

 

[Vanu]

I was wondering the same thing regarding break maintenance.

I notice on my XT hydraullic brakes that the front brake does perform like the rear, it is difficult to lock it out at slow speeds and has greatly reduced breaking power. Could this be because it needs more fluid or be bled? The pads are not fully worn out, but could probably use changing.

They have always squealed (which is another matter) so I will switch to a non metalic.

I have had the bike for over a year and have probably ridden over 1,000 km

 

[WeylessXPRider]

If your using Shimano Hydraulic disc brakes you might want to bleed them a bit, you may also want to get new brake pads, you should also check the reach adjustment screw (like the Hayes) if your using the brake levers (non STI).

 

[erik46pixel]

I was wondering the same thing regarding break maintenance.

Let me use this thread to put a more general question as I a just bought a used bike with Hope M4 disk brakes. I am interested to know

• How do I re-engage the disk into the brake when I mount the wheel on the frame?

• How loose should the brake be in 'no braking' mode? Is there any friction? My wheel does not turn as freely when I just hold the frame in the air as a free wheel.

• Do I need to trim the brake each time I put the wheel back on the frame?

• The general question about service maintenance.

• What's bleeding a brake?

• Any documentation on the net about these things you could point me to?

I would appreciate if you could answer the last point... the others are there to give you an idea of what I am looking for.
Thank you