 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I "made" this at the weekend:
Its an old XT 785 lever and hose attached to an even older Saint M810 caliper.
I've got Sram Guide Ts on my new Whyte S150 and I don't really like them. I've mainly used Shimano brakes over the years and I can't get used to the lever feel on the SRAM brakes.
Before I just run out and buy the new 4-pot SLX, I thought I'd see what I have lying around
Frankenbrake is the result!
To be honest I tried it just to see if it would work, the different hoses and banjo types aren't officially compatible, but all I did was replaced the little O rings and re-used the banjo bolt from the Saint caliper.
Wow! The power is pretty amazing. Its all relative of course, I'm comparing them to SRAM Guide Ts not Trickstuff, but for a garage special using dusty old pads, its a pretty impressive improvement.
So if you've got some old Shimano brake bits lying around, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to bodge together a good brake.
Far as im aware all shimano brakes are compatible. It's the hydraulic v mineral oil, with all shimano to my knowledge being mineral. So you cant use a hope lever on an xt caliper, as hope is hydraulic.
Not sure about mixing and matching different makers who use mineral is fine. Might be small differences, but far as im aware shimano works with shimano, as we see on crc recycled stuff like deore lever with xt caliper.
Not sure about mixing and matching different makers who use mineral is fine. Might be small differences,
Well I guess every brake is just a lever working on a master cylinder pushing fluid to a caliper. So assuming the same fluid you could probably get anything to "work". Whether it was any good or not might be a different matter.
My only concern when I put this together was the banjoes were definitely different between the hoses on the Saints and the hoses on the XTs, but it looks like they were close enough to not matter once everything was tightened up.
It was nice to be able to dig 10 year old parts out of a box and make them workable for a new bike too.
Friend of mine used to rescue old brakes whilst he was spannering in LBS.
Matching Tektro and Shimano was great success. So called Shimektro xD
Cheers!
I.
I have loads of mix & match shimano brakes in use. I tend to just change the hoses at the lever end as thy all seem to be the same size hose & olive so just fit. I am pretty sure there is no major difference in the actual master cylinder bit of the lever assembly (having taken a few apart to try and fix a sticky piston), just minor tweaks to improve lever feel, modulation and adjustment.
I also have mixed Shimano calipers and levers and it is fine, has been for about 18 months. I don't see why it wouldn't be?
Well I guess every brake is just a lever working on a master cylinder
My god, has nobody told you how offensive that term is?
Let's go knock some statues down.
People mix Magura and Shimano parts too.
Shimano stuff is basically interchangeable just check the hose, olive and insert specs.
Is there actually a statue to Mr Shimano?
I find that quite satisfying somehow
Is there actually a statue to Mr Shimano?
I assume so. That's a statue of a Mr Shimano. When you're organizing a revolution, best to not get hung up on little details.