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Having a bit of a mare with an online purchase, yes I know I should have bought from the LBS but they were going through a move at the time so went online instead. And yes, I know this is a definite First World Problem in the current climate.
Bought some Deore brakes off an online shop as they were stupidly cheap back in January, the rear developed a fault on the second ride where it pumps up when hot. Gave it a re-bleed and it again pumped up when it got hot so popped it into the workshop at the trailhead where I was riding that day to see if it was just me being stupid. They re-bled it and said they could tell that the lever wasn't allowing fluid to move from the caliper back up very easily and was the cause of the pumping up, going down it was a lot harder than normal. They said a few of their rental fleet had done the same thing. Did another quick loop and it still pumped up to the point of being on constantly until it had cooled down.
Got back home and emailed the online shop to say I was having issues with it and they said to send it in to them which I did. Left it a week to call them for progress and they said it would be another week or so as they had to send it off to Shimano Europe for appraisal. No problem with that just a it annoying as I had a week off coming up that I wanted to use that bike for. Called back again the next week and they had no update so left it a week longer but with the lockdown happening I left it a bit longer. On Monday I got an email from the shop saying there was a package on it's way to me, presumably a fixed brake or a replacement as I'd had no communication. Picked up the package yesterday and it was my original brake, seemingly untouched. Fitted it to the bike and immediately I could tell the lever was the same as it felt very stiff in it's action. Took the bike for a quick spin (using up my daily exercise token) and on the first hill I rode down it pumped straight back up again. Phoned the shop to say it still wasn't fixed and got passed to their tech. He said he had just re-bled it before sending it back to me. What happened to it going to Shimano? Had they taken a month to just give it a bleed? He didn't answer that question, just said to send both brakes back and he'd look at them again and see what they could do. So that means I've got to find somewhere to send them back then wait for a response again. No apology, not even a pretend 'oh, that's unusual' talk, nothing.
The annoyance of a bike part failing is one thing but being lied to is another. I will be sending the brakes back and hopefully they'll be fixed, replaced or refunded. Been using the shop for over 20 years on and off, next time I'll take the hit on paying close to RRP from the LBS next time. Might even just get some Hope X2's instead, which is probably what I should have done first time anyway.
Just needed to rant a bit.
That is annoying, I’ll give you that.
You are aware the solution is N+1 so you have another bike to ride whilst the other one is being fixed?
Plenty of bikes to choose from but it's the one I ride the most. Would be perfect for my local lockdown route, might switch the brakes over from the hardtail for the time being!
Check consumer legislation. "which" has a good guide.
its nothing to do with anyone but the shop. YOu should have just rejected it under distance selling stuff.
I had saint brakes liek that - disconnected hose from caliper, took it all apart and flushed through, some black grit came through and all was well again once reassembled and bled
The reason it didn't go back to the importers ( not shimano) I would bet is that its grey market thus not an authorised import. Thus in the event of it being faulty the shop will not get a refund from the importers
personally I wouldn't be give the shop another chance. Either send that back requesting a refund or have a go at fixing them. As above it's probably just a bit of muck in there. They are pretty simple things.
Well the online company you brought it from are feeding you a line. Shimano have a service centre in the uk. Sadly your contract is with the shop you brought it from and getting it sorted now is going to be an issue due to most service centres being shut due to Coronavirus.
Cheap parts.
Grey import.
No support from Madison/Shimano UK.
The shop has a responsibility to you as a customer.
You are being fed a line.
Was it Rutland by any chance?
They kept my brakes for a few weeks after I returned them, telling me they were with Madison. Claiming they as shop had no responsibility, only Shimano/Madison did.
They weren't as Madison contacted me to say they definitely didn't have them.
They then posted them to Madison, and lo and behold they were fixed and returned to me in under a week.
Then the same thing happened to the brakes a few months later. They sat on them again for three weeks, claiming they were with Madison again.
No they were not with Madison, I checked direct.
Rutland claimed that 'you cannot get these brakes, or equivalent any more' after another hiatus of unanswered emails. They were Deore's FFS.
To be fair, they then refunded me the cost of a set of brakes.
However I was directly lied to and blame pointed incorrectly at Madison on three occasions.
Never.
Ever.
Again.
If they cost over £100 and you paid by CC get your card provider involved under S75 and get your money back.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/
I used to come across this all the time on motocross bikes, especially KTM for some reason. It was almost always a clearance issue between the lever, hand or foot, and the operating piston in the master cylinder.
There must be clearance between these two parts of the system, a tiny amount but enough to compensate for fluid expansion when it gets hot. Sometimes the lack of clearance is due to poor adjustment and sometimes due to poor manufacture of parts or fitting of after market bits. Either way I'd have a look at this as a possible cause of your problem.
I've only just started cycling again after a lot of years on motorbikes so I'm not too familiar with the make up of individual brake types so can't tell you how to fix your specific problem but if this is happening to a number of the same bikes as your lbs said then it may be that you have to remove some material from the lever to gain the clearance needed.
Possibly a batch of parts sourced which have been incorrectly specced, badly made?
Hope this is of some help.
A quick update on this:
Was so annoyed at the shop lying to me that I didn't get round to stripping the brakes off the bike until a few days ago, wasn't in a rush as the shop said there was plenty of time to send them back. While bored I had the brakes from the hardtail off and thought I'd do a bit of investigation by swapping levers and calipers around. Put the lever from the hardtail onto the faulty brake and the brake now worked fine even when it got properly hot. Put the dodgy lever on the hardtail brake and that pumped up very quickly so it's the lever that's at fault. As hotstuff says above it must be an issue internally not letting the fluid migrate up to the reservoir when it gets warm, as they're non-serviceable levers there's nothing to do but replace it.
Called the shop back to give them another chance at offering a replacement but they have no stock of the brakes and would only offer a refund if they had both brakes back. Seeing as I got such a good price on them and they're now a lot more expensive I've decided to just order a new lever (from somewhere else) for £20 and get on with riding the bike. By the time I've factored in sending them back and the time it'll take without a working bike I can't be bothered with the hassle. I'll still be quids-in compared to buying the brakes new now and when I can I'll upgrade to some Hopes.
The shop won't be getting any more of my custom and I'll be a lot more wary of buying grey market stuff in the future. More business will be going to the LBS.
Name and shame the shop at least!