[Closed] Shimano hydraulic sti RS685 - anyone else finding the hoods a bit loose??

I have the same levers but in DI2 flavour.
Had the same thing, when I was cycling along the hood felt like they were sliding around under my hands, being hydraulic my first thoughts were oil. If you peel back the hoods you will see a wee rectangular "hatch" held down by 2 torx screws, where your thumb joint will sit when on the hoods. It is the expansion bit for the reservoir. Mine was leaking oil from there and then causing the hood to slide around everywhere. When I pressed the brake lever I could see oil seeping out from there. Spoke to Rose UK saying I was going to lift the hood and try and realign the rubber seal (there is very little room for error, virtually no overlap of the seals). They said that was fine and to keep them informed if it happened again and they would send out a new lever. Hasn't happened since but haven't been out much due to the poor weather and it being my "good weather" bike. At lest Rose know for if / when it happens again, due to the tiny seal with little room for error I can see it happening again!
This was my RH lever and at the same time my LH lever was fine, stayed put, very little movement which was what alerted me in the first place, they felt completely different.
Hope that helps.

hmm, interesting, thanks, i shall take a look at mine and see if i can see anything similar!

looking at your pics your reservoir bit might be in a different place, but check for oil leaking anyway. If it isn't that maybe the DI2 and non DI2 hoods are different and yours have the hoods mixed up or something.

yep. same on my cross bike. Very annoying

Have sold a dozen or so bikes with the hydraulic Ultegra setup so far this year, almost all of them have had this issue with the slack hoods. Not that this helps in any way, but I think it's a known problem. Believe that any new hoods coming through from Shimano now fit better FWIW.

TBH, it's quite possible there is still some mineral oil under the hoods from installation, as i had a bit of a spill due to lacking a bleed cup (now ordered!)

Mine don't move around but the levers rattle and it drives me crazy over anything other than buttery smooth roads which is most of the time.

same bike, same sti's here. mine are fine, but I did spend ages seating them after pulling them back to have a look when new

Same as mboy and iainc above:

Hoods nice and snug when getting them out the box - peeled back to fit to bike and tape bars post fitment - hoods seem slack and don't fit back that well.

Bit disappointed but no real biggy (performance on brakes outdoes my disappointment of the hoods) - will probably get some replacements when I can find them seperately/be bothered......

A

i wonder if you could retrofit new ones without taking lever and tape off ? would it wiggle on from below, over the lever, or would it be too much of a stretch and wreck the new ones ?

Hmmmm, maybe!

Mine mainly got baggy peeling back for bleeding - so will think about what I can do to fix that......

I actually bothered to google rs685 hoods on the back of this thread - have just ordered some from SJS cycles and will report back once they arrive and I've fitted them!

A

EDIT - double post

cheers for that, will be interested to see if they are tighter and whether they fit over without dismantling...

Mine were a bit like that, however I changed the bars and when I tapped the new bars I made sure the tape wasn't too thick underneath where the hoods sit against the bar tape. That seemed to fix it.

I had the leaking issue with my Ultegra Di2 front brake lever. The reservoir expansion cap was leaking, so I took it off, smeared a little grease around the edge, refitted it and that was that. However, due to the leaking and peeling the hood back numerous times, that particular hood is a bit loose. Can new ones be had?

a tenner a set on SJS

Thanks, ianc.

I have been using a set of the Di2 hydraulic levers for about a year. Mine seem fine, but I did spend ages pushing all the little bits of rubber on the inside of the lever hood into the right holes after fitting and bleeding them. It was a bit of a faff, but have been good so far. Although even with the rubber bits in the holes they were still fairly tight on the hoods, they just bulged a bit.

andysmiff1 - Member
Hmmmm, maybe!

Mine mainly got baggy peeling back for bleeding - so will think about what I can do to fix that......

I actually bothered to google rs685 hoods on the back of this thread - have just ordered some from SJS cycles and will report back once they arrive and I've fitted them!

any update ?

They arrived on the weekend (great service from SJS as usual), but riding on Saturday got in the way and Christmas prep/work/toddlers have meant I've not ventured into the garage yet......

Hopefully will get it done in before Christmas Day - will report back!

A

Mine don't move around but the levers rattle and it drives me crazy over anything other than buttery smooth roads which is most of the time.

I've just noticed this on mine the last couple of rides, a bit irritating but I'm not sure that anything can be done about it.

thanks andy 🙂

I fitted my R685's back in January, no loose hoods, no rattle after 3800 miles, a fair bit of fairly rough offroad on the Quantocks.
All I've had to do is change the pads as required.

Apologies for delay!

I tried to simply roll the old hoods forwards off the STIs towards the front of the bike and over the lever (so I could swap without removing the levers etc) and it wouldn't go without a load of brute force - so I stopped as didn't want to stretch the hoods any further or tear them. The lump with the reservoir seems to be the main problem from what I could see.

I've got new hoods waiting, but will probably wait until I bung some new bar tape on and have the levers off before I try again.

EDIT - I might try again with some alcohol hand gel (that's what I use to fit ESI grips with) as a lubricant to help the old hoods off once more before removing the levers. Will report back again!

A

As mentioned in the dealer manual, the hoods can only be replaced through the clamp-side of the levers.

Page 36: "Replace the bracket cover with the dual control lever and brake hose removed from the bicycle as shown in the illustration. Alternatively, remove the brake caliper from the frame and pass the racket cover from the caliper side."

Thanks! Although I printed that off when I got the brakes/shifters, I only read as far as the bleeding instructions.......

Looks like I can put up with the "loose" hoods as I can't be bothered stripping it all back down/disconnecting cables and hoses!!

A

This seems a well known issue. Especially with the 785s Dura Ace models.

The new 105s are bled from underneath to save removing the hood.

I've just fitted a pair of these levers to my bike, ran the internal cables and set up the gears. I've yet to connect the hoses and bleed. I've just noticed that the left hood is baggy. Am I going to have to pull the gear cable to install a replacement? I'm not even as far as taping the bars yet. Thanks.

I've just been experimenting with some old bar tape (Giant stuff, that kinda squishy tape they put on the Defy, it's about 1.5mm thick? I found that cutting a couple of inch long strips and experimenting with trimming its width, then placing above and below the clamp area at the lower half of the hood, under the hood between the body and the hood, where your hands tend to sit, that seems to tighten things up a bit. Not perfect, but less flappy. I'll give that a proper go once I finish setting up the brakes before I tape the bars. It's really just filling a small void inside the hood to pull it tight.

Mine are terrible and slide right back.. proper shit design

is this a problem with an old batch or are newer ones affected as well?

just about to buy some..

Mine are nothing like the pictures above, and certainly don't slide around. There's a little bit of "play" in the hood on the sides, i.e. you can squeeze them a little, but no big issue. I bought from bike 24 in December.

Mine are a bit baggy, I always wear gloves so can't say it bothers me too much. Thought about trying to shrink them again with a hair dryer or very careful use of a hot air gun. Then I thought that I don't want to boil the fluid. Then I thought the fluid will have a far higher boiling point than water so don't be stupid. So I might. Possibly hold them down with electrical tape for a few days too.

Edit to say why has a link to a website selling hair moisture removing devices appeared in my post? Has some sort of nefarious advertising deal been done?

Going to rewrap my bar tape (hopefully this weekend - if kids don't take up all the weekend..... ) so plan is to replace hoods at same time.

Plans is to:
Uncouple hoses
Slide new hoods over hose (not onto lever though)
Reconnect hoses and rebleed
Slide new hoods in place
Rewrap tape

Sounds like a faff, but since I've got the new hoods waiting seemed like a good idea for a wet weekend.....

Will keep thread updated!

A

Has some sort of nefarious advertising deal been done?

well whilst we're talking about them is £300 the best price I'll find at the mo? seems okay but I do love a bargain...

Paid 300 from Merlin for mine a few weeks back, couldn't find anywhere cheaper including alltricks, German sites etc

So - finally got round to doing the hood replacement. Massive improvement! Not baggy at all now.

But if a faff - bit was changing brake hoses to the BH90 hoses following suggestions on another thread on here about brake feel here:

[url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/shimano-brrs-785-hydro-brakes-user-impressions ]improving brake feel[/url]

Process I did was:

Unwrap bar tape.
Remove old hoses and cables.
Remove shifters from bars.
Remove old hoods by pulling them backwards.
Slide new hoods over hoses/cables (but not onto shifters yet)
Mount shifters on bars (temporarily)
Bleed
Remove shifters from bars
Slide hoods in place
Refit shifters to bars
Retape bars

Have a beer!

All in took about an hour and a half, but as I wanted to change hoses and bar tape seemed to be worth it!

Cheers,

A

I've just fitted a set of the levers to my Cx bike and have the "Dredded baggyness". Will contact my place of purchase to ask about replacements. Will let you know.

Andy

Did the hose change improve things as suggested on the other thread?

Cheers

Andy

Did the hose change improve things as suggested on the other thread?

Cheers

Initial impressions after a quick shakedown ride are yes! Planning to get out on the bike for a proper test this weekend but in the stand and on that quick ride the that brakes seem sharper and firmer.

Followed that thread to the letter - started with new hoses then bled as per the instructions in the thread, and much happier.

Will report back again with a proper post-ride opinion, but well worth the £20 quid I paid. A 1000mm front hose and rear 1700mm hose was long enough for my Diverge. I got the "LX" hose from CRC - just make sure you get the straight/straight connector hoses if you have the 685 caliper.

A

Firstly a big shout out to SJS Cycles as provide a first class service. New hoods fitted (without) taking off clamps and disconnecting cables/hoses. Brute force to get them off but new ones fit like a glove. My origional place of purchase are going to refund me as don't stock them.

Bikepimp, can you explain process of removing and replacing ?

Just updating for Sheck:

Two long rides in now - brakes feel awesome. Just as I hoped they'd feel when I first got them.

Less lever travel, firmer feel and quicker bite.

Happy days.

Newer hoods feel better too - no sloppiness. Would love to see how bikepimp fitted them without disconnecting - although I still needed to do it as I wanted to changes hoses anyway!!

A

Andy/Iainc,
I found a video on you tube and just followed it. A lot of brute force to get them off but much easier going back on...had the Cx bike out on a couple of long rides and no sign of stretching or baggyness. Still as tight as a drum.

Cheers

^^^^ link ?

Iainc,
Not sure how to do that:-(. If you do a search on Yahoo and simply type in how to replace Shimano ergo lever hoods there is a few videos showing how to do it. Let me know how you get on:-)

no worries, will have a look this evening, thanks

got mine in front of me here, can't say I'm looking forward to installing them, what a mess.

Kimi,
Relax as really easy to install..do the brakes first then the gears as I found that easier...although my frame has internal cable routing...the brakes do require a lot of bleeding to work effectively but once done they are really powerful..

thanks, I don't have the frame to hang them on yet but I did shudder a bit on opening the box.. my first STI's too.

Thanks Andy... Sounds like it might be worth it... Have been riding on the hoods since fitting the brakes, and have to admit to beginning to get used to it, but would like to get back into the drops at some point

Thinking of getting some of these later in the year. Is there any way of knowing whether you're buying a set with baggy or non-baggy hood rubber?

Picked up my new Defy yesterday. The covers are definitely a bit tighter than the ones on my CDF...

Good to hear new hoods fixes the issue. Might just buy some rather than faff with sending them back etc...

(BTW someone is still searching on Yahoo??)

Nedraper,
Regarding your post as above unfortunately not as fine out the box....it's only after you've pulled back the hoods to bleed the brakes and re-fit them back over you notice the baggyness...its most annoying and only new ones will fix it....

cheers bikepimp - will you have to fit new hoods again next time you bleed the brakes?

Finally got around to changing mine today! Ordered them from SJS. Had various bits off for maintenance anyway, so threaded the brake caliper (with pads out) through the hood and put them on from the back of the lever.

Huge difference. Old ones looked 50% bigger comparing them side by side. Much more comfy now.

Good to hear Horatio. I think I am going to have to do the same, but will try and hold out until I change my bars for some flared drops as re-taping seems a bit of a hassle at the moment!

Just replaced my hoods, they went on OK using alcoholic hand gel as a lube. Here are old and new compared.
[img] [/img]

I have one baggy hood and one tight. Will attempt a bar tape bodge to shore up the baggy one.

I have one baggy hood and one tight.

Same here , must get around to fitting the new hoods from SJC .