elizabethn56•1mo agoProlific Poster

Tried bleeding Shimano road brakes with a syringe kit from Amazon

I was working on my 2015 Ultegra shifters last Saturday and figured I'd save $40 by doing it myself. Got the cheap kit with the plastic tubing and it worked fine until I realized I pushed air back up into the master cylinder. Took me 3 tries and a trip to the shop to get it right. Anyone else have issues with those universal bleed kits?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary7761mo ago

The 2015 Ultegra shifters have that internal master cylinder that's really sensitive to air bubbles, and the cheap plastic tubing from Amazon kits never seals tight enough on the bleed port. I bet if you wrapped some Teflon tape around the barb fitting before pushing the hose on, it would keep pressure from leaking and stop that air from sneaking back up. Had a buddy who lost a whole afternoon on his 6800 shifters because the hose kept popping off mid-bleed, he switched to using a hose clamp from a fish tank pump and it worked perfect after that. Little stuff like that makes the difference between a clean bleed and a mess.

drew9651mo ago

Honestly, is a tiny air bubble really that big a deal?

amy15424d ago

A buddy of mine in our local cycling group, @drew965, said the same thing until he had a 2015 Ultegra shifter that would not stop creaking during a ride. He spent hours re-bleeding it and found out the air bubble was causing the master cylinder to not push enough fluid through. Once he got a proper bleed kit with a metal fitting, the problem went away for good.