Shimano Saint gravity bleed

Hey all, just sharing my experience when fitting some brand new shimano saint brakes. I bought them brand new from an online retailer that long ago I cannot even remember the name, I think it was tredz but i’m not 100% but they were cheap at the time, Ithink £125 each. I did have sram code silvers on but fully geared up weighing 90kg+ and being a very sloppy late braker in riding style they were not up to the task. So going to try saints as have used them in the past and found them very powerful. Also I prefer shimanos lever.

I did try trp dhr evo pros but didnt like the lever or the “modulation”.

When I first fitted the shimanos i of course had to cut the hoses down and install a new barb but shimano seem to put the olive in the lever already so thats a nice touch.

Once the hose’s were installed and everything attached to my bike I removed the pads and installed bleed blocks then undone the 2.5mm bleed screw on the lever and installed the shimano funnel then poured in a little shimano red mineral oil. Pressed the lever a few times to dislodge air while tapping hoses/lever/caliper etc waited till no more air popped up through the oil in funnel. Put it all back together and the brakes felt awful, inconsistent lever pull, could pull to the grip on 1st pull then after a few pumps it felt great but the second you stop pumping they went back trash.

So after some google fu I found a lot of people (even steve Peats old wc mechanic) recommend gravity bleeding so gave it a go with my janky kitchen setup and they work phenomenal now, consistent powerful pull, no sponge just raw strength like ronnie colemans grabbed you.

I don’t have the delights of a nice garage or workshop so had to settle on zip tie my front wheel to a chair to keep the funnel still and level on the levers. Its ugly but it worked.