Cheaper third party option would work well. Just use offical Shimano fluid.
bradsbikes on
Stick with quality imho
bradsbikes on
Stick with the original legit Shimano stuff imho
IEatKittys on
If you’re only bleeding shimano brakes, then sure buy the shimano kit. If you think you’ll end up bleeding other brands like Tektro, Magura etc then get one that does those as well.
unclebumblebutt on
I commented on a similar post earlier, the Shimano one is just easier to use. The metal fitting in the tube makes getting it attached to the caliper just so much easier.
LetMeBeFrankWithYou3 on
You should be just fine with the 3rd party kit. Just pay extra attention to the cup threads when screwing it into the brake lever reservoir; it’s really easy to cross thread. The little tiny o ring tends to pop off as well, both on the reservoir cap bolt and the bleed cup.
JonnyLosak on
That looks like a nice kit, however I got the $20 cheapo and have done 4 bikes with it so far and it was smooth sailing.
singelingtracks on
After market kits work just fine, sometimes better then the oem.
I have the shaimajo bleed cup and use random syringes I buy in bulk and bulk tubing and a cheap connection kit.
boofmasternickynick on
Epic Bleed Solutions makes a pretty good quality kit that’s not priced crazy
BlackLion5282 on
Go for the official one, it’s not that expensive and it really makes the work easy and safe. Don’t forget that brakes are the most important part of any moving vehicle.
FatahRuark on
I got a similar system from Amazon for free (Vine…let’s you get free stuff in exchange for reviewing it).
It works perfectly fine. It did include mineral oil which I didn’t trust. I’m sure it could be fine, but I don’t want to ruin my brakes, and I had plenty of Shimano oil available.
I saw they make kind of a mid-grade option now that has metal fittings that screw into the lever reservoir. I might upgrade to that.
Yahn on
I’ve bought 2 or 3 different Amazon special bleedkits and they’ve ranged from shit to total shit piles… I bit the bullet and bought the park tool bleed kit, life is better with that kit… I kept one of the chineisum kits to bring with me on bike trips but fortunately only ever have to use the cup…
PiggypPiggyyYaya on
Man you can put one together yourself in a hardware store. Cars, bike hydraulic brakes bleeding procedure is similar for the most parts.
Noctifago on
Depends on the model, there are some shimano calipers that have the bleeding nipple recessed, like the mt400. You can’t easily and secure enough put a hose in there, shimano bleed kit has the thingy to make this posible. Enough said
grantrules on
I bought the cheapest bleed kit I could find, it works fine. I wouldn’t splurge for the Shimano kit for my home purposes
mtbtec on
We burn through bleed kits at our shop. We have cobbled together some custom jobs but the Shimano kits hold up well. The cup threads wear out sometimes but for home use they should last quite a while.
Madera7 on
Look at something better than the SHIMANO one, it’s pretty poor considering the price
razorree on
i just use cheap kit from Alix.
You need top funnel, and bottom hose+container for old oil.
those big yellow blocks are useful as well.
chambee on
The obey thing I would say is do not buy the lever cup that are not transparent. The Ezbleed stuff works but their yellow opaque cup make it hard to see the level especially when you are at the rear with a seringue.
komang2014 on
The cheapest one will work
pm_something_u_love on
When I need to bleed a brake of any brand I dig into my random pile of syringes, cups, fittings and hoses I’ve collected over the years and cobble something together and it always works. I can’t think of any reason to pay a Shimano premium.
Dirtbagdownhill on
I’m happy with my jagwire kit but I also have the Shimano funnel and it’s great for an occasional top off
Puzzleheaded-Tea6130 on
The threaded cup & stopper I like personally but a lot of times the knockoff kits are going to be similar quality… For years we would grab things like syringes from health stores and pharmacies and just lengths of tubing. The metal fittings are reused. Essentially I have a kit that’s got the Shimano funnel and a bunch of hodgepodge pieces that are pretty universal it’s what works for you and provides the best bleed. I don’t buy off the shelf mineral oil from the store I get finish line or Shimano in the 1 L bottles. It’s cheap enough and if you have an issue you can always say that you used their fluid which their sticklers about. In the end it’s all the same Magura’s Royal blood is the same thing with purple coloring 🤷
PracticalNeanderthal on
I own both a shimano kit and an off brand Amazon special, functionally there’s no difference.
Id like to echo making sure you get on with a cup you can see through.
GunTotinVeganCyclist on
Here’s my opinion: buy the brand name kits. I bought 2 knock kits from amazon and they both suck. They will work but they had air leak issues with some of the fittings. Now I have SRAM and shimano brand bleed kits and they are much better.
WarmPangolin on
Bahahah I just had this same dilemma. Even considered parktool but then thought no way others can’t do the job. Went with bleedzone brand on Amazon. We’ll see, new to hydraulic brakes / never bled before. Watching all the tutorials currently before the kit arrives
juanpablo58 on
I have the alternative, purchased on Ali, the pro version, but I had to buy the coupling nipple for SRAM separately; and the kits are cheaper and the syringes are of better quality.
DcavePost on
Okay so shimano also makes fishing gear and I was like I just use a knife… then I realized I was in the bike sub and not the fishing sub…
Imanisback on
I have both the official shimano bleed kit and the cheap one off amazon.
The Shimano one is much nicer. The syringe has a fitting that you can hook up without getting air in the caliper. The cups and plungers are much nicer. All in all, its just easier to use.
I got a cheap knockoff from amazon to bleed a set of Facebook TRPs I bought and wasnt sure they were salvageable, so I didnt want to waste money if I wasnt keeping them. The cheap bleed kit did the job, but it was awkward. Everything is flimsy and I dont have confidence in any of it to last. Like I was nervous about the plunger coming out of the cup. I had issues getting the cup threaded into place. It was harder to get air bubbles out of the syringe. Worst part since I was troubleshooting the brake lever was that I was not sure if the system was leaking air or if it was my shitty choice of tools causing the issue.
Honestly bleeding brakes is annoying enough with the good tools. I think its worth the extra $30 for the Shimano genuine one. Im planning on adding a genuine TRP bleed kit for the same reasons. Not worth the extra hassle for years to save $30 once.
evilfollowingmb on
I bought a cheap 3rd party kit. Works fine.
Powerful-Meet-8953 on
The image scared me for a second…….sorry.
RongGearRob on
Funny you should ask, today I did a bleed on my TRP Slate 4 brakes using a cheap “universal” kit from Amazon.
The universal kit didn’t label which screw in adapters for the caliper or lever port were for each brand. I had to remove the screws for each and do a visual match.
As you can imagine it was a little messy doing this for the first caliper as oil was leaking everywhere while I was trying to find the right match to screw in the syringe. However once I got it worked out everything went smoothly from there on.
My guess is that it will be easier for you since you can get dedicated knock-off Shimano kits.
Personally I don’t think you have to be worried about the mineral oil supplied with the kit. I remember when Seth used baby oil for an entire year without issue in his brakes.
My bleed was overdue, the oil was pretty dirty.
Good luck.
KangarooKawks on
bleedzone kits have served me well
RandoMrShwifty on
I feel they pretty much work the same. Just need to make sure to keep air out of your mineral oil when doing bleed.
skywalkerRCP on
I got my kit from EpicBleedSolutions. No issues, awesome service/communication and detailed instructions.
Yiplzuse on
Here is the thing for me, it is not a real complicated toolset. You can find ones just as good as Shimanos’ for less. With that said I have 40+ years working with tools. You don’t always have to buy the most expensive, but never buy cheap tools. I would go with the Shimano set or the Park set. All of my bike tools are Pro tools, Park tools, or Shimano. Never had a problem 10 years in.🤷♂️
36 Comments
Cheaper third party option would work well. Just use offical Shimano fluid.
Stick with quality imho
Stick with the original legit Shimano stuff imho
If you’re only bleeding shimano brakes, then sure buy the shimano kit. If you think you’ll end up bleeding other brands like Tektro, Magura etc then get one that does those as well.
I commented on a similar post earlier, the Shimano one is just easier to use. The metal fitting in the tube makes getting it attached to the caliper just so much easier.
You should be just fine with the 3rd party kit. Just pay extra attention to the cup threads when screwing it into the brake lever reservoir; it’s really easy to cross thread. The little tiny o ring tends to pop off as well, both on the reservoir cap bolt and the bleed cup.
That looks like a nice kit, however I got the $20 cheapo and have done 4 bikes with it so far and it was smooth sailing.
After market kits work just fine, sometimes better then the oem.
I have the shaimajo bleed cup and use random syringes I buy in bulk and bulk tubing and a cheap connection kit.
Epic Bleed Solutions makes a pretty good quality kit that’s not priced crazy
Go for the official one, it’s not that expensive and it really makes the work easy and safe. Don’t forget that brakes are the most important part of any moving vehicle.
I got a similar system from Amazon for free (Vine…let’s you get free stuff in exchange for reviewing it).
It works perfectly fine. It did include mineral oil which I didn’t trust. I’m sure it could be fine, but I don’t want to ruin my brakes, and I had plenty of Shimano oil available.
I saw they make kind of a mid-grade option now that has metal fittings that screw into the lever reservoir. I might upgrade to that.
I’ve bought 2 or 3 different Amazon special bleedkits and they’ve ranged from shit to total shit piles… I bit the bullet and bought the park tool bleed kit, life is better with that kit… I kept one of the chineisum kits to bring with me on bike trips but fortunately only ever have to use the cup…
Man you can put one together yourself in a hardware store. Cars, bike hydraulic brakes bleeding procedure is similar for the most parts.
Depends on the model, there are some shimano calipers that have the bleeding nipple recessed, like the mt400. You can’t easily and secure enough put a hose in there, shimano bleed kit has the thingy to make this posible. Enough said
I bought the cheapest bleed kit I could find, it works fine. I wouldn’t splurge for the Shimano kit for my home purposes
We burn through bleed kits at our shop. We have cobbled together some custom jobs but the Shimano kits hold up well. The cup threads wear out sometimes but for home use they should last quite a while.
Look at something better than the SHIMANO one, it’s pretty poor considering the price
i just use cheap kit from Alix.
You need top funnel, and bottom hose+container for old oil.
those big yellow blocks are useful as well.
The obey thing I would say is do not buy the lever cup that are not transparent. The Ezbleed stuff works but their yellow opaque cup make it hard to see the level especially when you are at the rear with a seringue.
The cheapest one will work
When I need to bleed a brake of any brand I dig into my random pile of syringes, cups, fittings and hoses I’ve collected over the years and cobble something together and it always works. I can’t think of any reason to pay a Shimano premium.
I’m happy with my jagwire kit but I also have the Shimano funnel and it’s great for an occasional top off
The threaded cup & stopper I like personally but a lot of times the knockoff kits are going to be similar quality… For years we would grab things like syringes from health stores and pharmacies and just lengths of tubing. The metal fittings are reused. Essentially I have a kit that’s got the Shimano funnel and a bunch of hodgepodge pieces that are pretty universal it’s what works for you and provides the best bleed. I don’t buy off the shelf mineral oil from the store I get finish line or Shimano in the 1 L bottles. It’s cheap enough and if you have an issue you can always say that you used their fluid which their sticklers about. In the end it’s all the same Magura’s Royal blood is the same thing with purple coloring 🤷
I own both a shimano kit and an off brand Amazon special, functionally there’s no difference.
Id like to echo making sure you get on with a cup you can see through.
Here’s my opinion: buy the brand name kits. I bought 2 knock kits from amazon and they both suck. They will work but they had air leak issues with some of the fittings. Now I have SRAM and shimano brand bleed kits and they are much better.
Bahahah I just had this same dilemma. Even considered parktool but then thought no way others can’t do the job. Went with bleedzone brand on Amazon. We’ll see, new to hydraulic brakes / never bled before. Watching all the tutorials currently before the kit arrives
I have the alternative, purchased on Ali, the pro version, but I had to buy the coupling nipple for SRAM separately; and the kits are cheaper and the syringes are of better quality.
Okay so shimano also makes fishing gear and I was like I just use a knife… then I realized I was in the bike sub and not the fishing sub…
I have both the official shimano bleed kit and the cheap one off amazon.
The Shimano one is much nicer. The syringe has a fitting that you can hook up without getting air in the caliper. The cups and plungers are much nicer. All in all, its just easier to use.
I got a cheap knockoff from amazon to bleed a set of Facebook TRPs I bought and wasnt sure they were salvageable, so I didnt want to waste money if I wasnt keeping them. The cheap bleed kit did the job, but it was awkward. Everything is flimsy and I dont have confidence in any of it to last. Like I was nervous about the plunger coming out of the cup. I had issues getting the cup threaded into place. It was harder to get air bubbles out of the syringe. Worst part since I was troubleshooting the brake lever was that I was not sure if the system was leaking air or if it was my shitty choice of tools causing the issue.
Honestly bleeding brakes is annoying enough with the good tools. I think its worth the extra $30 for the Shimano genuine one. Im planning on adding a genuine TRP bleed kit for the same reasons. Not worth the extra hassle for years to save $30 once.
I bought a cheap 3rd party kit. Works fine.
The image scared me for a second…….sorry.
Funny you should ask, today I did a bleed on my TRP Slate 4 brakes using a cheap “universal” kit from Amazon.
The universal kit didn’t label which screw in adapters for the caliper or lever port were for each brand. I had to remove the screws for each and do a visual match.
As you can imagine it was a little messy doing this for the first caliper as oil was leaking everywhere while I was trying to find the right match to screw in the syringe. However once I got it worked out everything went smoothly from there on.
My guess is that it will be easier for you since you can get dedicated knock-off Shimano kits.
Personally I don’t think you have to be worried about the mineral oil supplied with the kit. I remember when Seth used baby oil for an entire year without issue in his brakes.
My bleed was overdue, the oil was pretty dirty.
Good luck.
bleedzone kits have served me well
I feel they pretty much work the same. Just need to make sure to keep air out of your mineral oil when doing bleed.
I got my kit from EpicBleedSolutions. No issues, awesome service/communication and detailed instructions.
Here is the thing for me, it is not a real complicated toolset. You can find ones just as good as Shimanos’ for less. With that said I have 40+ years working with tools. You don’t always have to buy the most expensive, but never buy cheap tools. I would go with the Shimano set or the Park set. All of my bike tools are Pro tools, Park tools, or Shimano. Never had a problem 10 years in.🤷♂️