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After nearly crashing a few times because my brakes pulled to the bars I'm looking at getting some new ones. Zee look good value but I'm wondering do new Shimano brakes still have the variable bite point?
Not if they've been bled properly.
Agreed. My XT8000 were awful out of the box, after bleeding, they have been excellent.
Going on the frequent posts on this forum I’d say they haven’t totally solved the issue - at least not on the 2 pot brakes.
There are generally less threads on the newer style of 4 pot brakes like the new Deore level (but non-series) ones.
Personally if I wanted a budget sort of 4 pot I’d be buying a set of Sram Guide RE’s which have won all sorts of recent disc brake tests. They are the newest guide r brake levers with the last gen Code dh brake caliper on them.
Deore M6000: no issues
Great brakes!
Yes they do, but they can all be made good if you get a decent bleed and get your head around odd bite point screw and how it’s meant to work.
They’re a bit of a lottery from the factory.
how does the odd bite point screw work?
I've had Saints and Zees with the problem. My mate has a brand new set of Zees with the problem and he's sending those back. I wish they'd sort it out. My old SLX's we're some of my favourite brakes ever but I wouldn't dare buy any more until they're fully consistent.
Not if they’ve been bled properly.
Imagine that. If it was so simple it wouldn't be a very well documented, ongoing issue for so many people.
Deore 4 pots have had no problems from my perspective (and not heard of any, and I did a lot of research before buying them). I chose them over Zees and Saints because they were less likely to be problematic. It's a bonus that they're incredibly cheap.
Friends of mine have had nothing but trouble with various types of Guides (jamming pistons, losing fluid, inconsistency) so they were definitely not on my shortlist.
JP
XT Four Pots don't have the issue.
My son's new Deore 2 Pots don't apparently either.
The variable bite issue was limited to early batches of the M9000, M9020 and M8000 brakes. Since word got round about it, people have latched onto it and assumed this is causing the symptoms they have on other models which are almost always bleed issues. A proper good bleed is sometimes tricky to achieve. Most put up with mediocre bleeds which are easy to achieve and generally OK to live with. Zees and Saints don’t typically suffer the problem as they use the older master cylinder design - 4 pot callipers have more pockets to act as potential air traps though.
De-gas the oil and bleed up a couple of times followed by a gravity bleed. Generally gets most stuff out. Some can be trickier though and take time to get a good bleed on.
My first early M8000s suffered from the variable bite point problem when I first fitted them (new hoses etc). The problem disappeared after I did a proper bleed, following the Shimano procedure. I've since done the same for other M8000s with the same success. As this thread indicates, others have had the same experience.
I would say no. I've got a full zee front and mt501 four pot with a zee lever rear. They seem rock solid. I mainly like the mineral oil as opposed to the dot fluid. And whenever previous shimano brakes have had issues, a proper bleed has sorted it out.