Getting shops to bleed your brakes can be bloody expensive. Some shops charge $70 per end and even when you get the bike back the lever often isn't set up how you like it. And don't even get us started about having to wait up to a month for a service over summer 😅
Solve all of that by bleeding your own brakes. It's pretty easy to pick up and, once you've learned, a full bleed takes about an hour for both ends and costs sod all - just the cost of fluid. You'll also be able to do it when you need to - we've saved a lot of rides by bleeding our brakes at the last minute.
Here's a kit that we've made for bleeding Shimano brakes. We've made sure to select components that are all chemically compatible and will last well.
If you're looking for a kit that makes bleeding significantly faster and reduces the chance of a mess, consider our premium kits.
All kits include:
A bleed funnel of your choosing - Plastic or Brass
A 24mL 2-part syringe. No rubber seal = no swelling so you should get a decent life out of it
Tubing for attaching the syringe to your brake caliper
This entire kit is mineral oil compatible so won't swell
The choices you have are: Bleed funnel type Plastic bleed funnels are cheaper but the threads on them are easier to damage and tend to have a limited life. Funnels with the brass thread won't get thread wear (unless you really crank it) but are more expensive.
Road adapter An adapter to adapt the bleed funnel to the larger diameter bleed fitting of Shimano drop bar brakes - think road/gravel - Shimano 105, Ultegra, GRX and so on.
SecureLink adapter The SecureLink adapter (that's what we call it) does the following:
Guides the hose onto the bleed nipple and reduces the effort required to get it on there
Makes the connection significantly more secure which reduces the chance of accidentally pulling the tube off the caliper
Eliminates connecting the hose on an angle which can introduce air when pulling the syringe
Using this adapter made us brave enough to start bleeding brakes without taking the wheel out! Well, with some other minor precautions...
Securelink in action
7mm spanner Required to open the Shimano bleed port to get fluid flowing. Necessary, but a lot of you have them already!
If you've got a kit but need to add a part to it, we have a bleed kit spare parts listing here.
How to bleed your brakes
So you want to bleed your brakes but don't know how or want a refresher? Not to worry, here's some content to help out! A few quick tips from us first:
Always clean your hands before handling your brake pads. Sometimes brakepads slip in your hands and if the braking surface touches oil it's stuffed!
We always take our front wheel out as well as front pads just in case we have a spillage... It's a bit of extra effort if you're just bleeding the rear but it's saved us on a few times we've accidentally knocked oil out of the funnel!
How to fully bleed Shimano brakes
EXTRA INFO
Getting shops to bleed your brakes can be bloody expensive. Some shops charge $70 per end and even when you get the bike back the lever often isn't set up how you like it. And don't even get us started about having to wait up to a month for a service over summer 😅
Solve all of that by bleeding your own brakes. It's pretty easy to pick up and, once you've learned, a full bleed takes about an hour for both ends and costs sod all - just the cost of fluid. You'll also be able to do it when you need to - we've saved a lot of rides by bleeding our brakes at the last minute.
Here's a kit that we've made for bleeding Shimano brakes. We've made sure to select components that are all chemically compatible and will last well.
If you're looking for a kit that makes bleeding significantly faster and reduces the chance of a mess, consider our premium kits.
All kits include:
A bleed funnel of your choosing - Plastic or Brass
A 24mL 2-part syringe. No rubber seal = no swelling so you should get a decent life out of it
Tubing for attaching the syringe to your brake caliper
This entire kit is mineral oil compatible so won't swell
The choices you have are: Bleed funnel type Plastic bleed funnels are cheaper but the threads on them are easier to damage and tend to have a limited life. Funnels with the brass thread won't get thread wear (unless you really crank it) but are more expensive.
Road adapter An adapter to adapt the bleed funnel to the larger diameter bleed fitting of Shimano drop bar brakes - think road/gravel - Shimano 105, Ultegra, GRX and so on.
SecureLink adapter The SecureLink adapter (that's what we call it) does the following:
Guides the hose onto the bleed nipple and reduces the effort required to get it on there
Makes the connection significantly more secure which reduces the chance of accidentally pulling the tube off the caliper
Eliminates connecting the hose on an angle which can introduce air when pulling the syringe
Using this adapter made us brave enough to start bleeding brakes without taking the wheel out! Well, with some other minor precautions...
Securelink in action
7mm spanner Required to open the Shimano bleed port to get fluid flowing. Necessary, but a lot of you have them already!
If you've got a kit but need to add a part to it, we have a bleed kit spare parts listing here.
How to bleed your brakes
So you want to bleed your brakes but don't know how or want a refresher? Not to worry, here's some content to help out! A few quick tips from us first:
Always clean your hands before handling your brake pads. Sometimes brakepads slip in your hands and if the braking surface touches oil it's stuffed!
We always take our front wheel out as well as front pads just in case we have a spillage... It's a bit of extra effort if you're just bleeding the rear but it's saved us on a few times we've accidentally knocked oil out of the funnel!
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