All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Do any stores carry these to try on?

 

LOL!

She's brand new, to us! We got her about 6 weeks ago, she's an ~1 year old golden heeler mix, we named her Roo, and she's got a great mix of golden retriever love and heeler athleticism/smarts. She's a little too wild to take biking yet, as I don't trust her off leash, but we're getting there! We took her on one desert camping trip so far and she did awesome!

 

Such a beautiful pup! I wish I could take my dog with us riding but everything nearby has leash laws and he just doesn’t have enough training to where I would trust him at the places 2 hours away that he could go off leash. He’s fine in our unfenced yard but a squirrel or deer and he’d be gone haha

 

What an awesome combo! She looks like an absolute sweetheart. Love her chair, always a good idea to sacrifice one and not get all furniture chewed up.
Just wanna kiss her face!
**sorry, love pups.

 

Got a few miles in with my son while in Sedona.

 

sedona is such a good time! nice!

 

Sram code rsc question. I bled my front brake the other day. Used the yellow stopper thing in the caliper to keep the pistons out during the bleed. I put new pads in when I bled it and a new rotor on today. Now the pads are just close enough to barely get the rotor in. Don't think the rotor is warped. Things I've read online say open the bleed port at the lever and push the pistons out. Anyone else run into this and make it work?

 

Yes, it's overfilled. Do exactly as you describe to let a little out.

 

Most stores that carry Spec bikes should have them, call around.

Silly question, but did you just try and push the pistons back in? Take the pads out, use a tire lever and push them back to flush wit the caliper. Most systems allow for some variation in rotor thickness and pad wear without needing to change fluid volume. You would just need to adjust BPC and lever.
I'd dial back the BPC all the way out, pull pads, push pistons back in, put it all back together. Should be fine unless you bled without a block.
It it rubs after that, yes, you overfilled.

 

I'll have to give this a shot tonight

I didn't take the pads out to push the pistons, but (probably bad practice) i did use a flathead screw driver to try and push the pads out. since i'm taking the pads out anyway, i'll try this before letting some fluid out.

 

i have an old broken screwdriver that i use. old pads are gonna be junked anyways so i then use the old screwdriver. screws up the pads but they're getting thrown away.

 

I snapped a piston using a metal screwdriver...try using a plastic tire lever instead to push pistons. Buying new calipers cause the industry doesn't make rebuild kits anymore...sucks.

Also - I use whichever fluid (DOT or mineral) with a Q tip dip and moisturize/clean each piston during a bleed. Swab a little fluid of choice around each piston to get the gunk off (accumulation over time while pads wear and pistons extend) and moisturize the o-rings that seal the pistons in the caliper. Helps alot on 4 pot calipers where a draggy piston will cause uneven pad wear/or a draggy pad on your rotor...or on 2 pot systems where one piston is pushing slower than the other.

 

I have a plethora of expensive MTB tools but I still use a screwdriver or a tire lever 98% of the time to push back pistons, and I will not hesitate to use a 2x4 and a mallet to install headsets/bbs. Sue me.

 

This is how I reset pistons, use the old pads and a screwdriver.

 

same here. I've also used pedro's tire levers, doesn't always work though depending on how far out the pistons are.

 

Honestly, do what @geoyota760 said. Every time I replace pads or bleed I give the pistons some love.
This is one of the most underrated things you can do to make brakes feel better and last longer.
You should absolutely get the pads off when pushing pistons back and drop some fluid on the piston.
As mentioned the pistons slide on seals, these seals get gunked and dry over time. That causes pistons to stick, making some move out at different rates than others.
This leads to uneven pad wear, but more importantly less power and spongy feel.

It's super easy to do. Pull pads, squeeze the lever, get pistons to come out a little bit (just a few mm), dab and clean around the piston, push it back in, wipe clean.
You'll probably notice that some don't move at all, while others just slide out easily. That's what's happening when you brake. Instead of all 4 pistons working, you're relying one only one or two.
If you've never done it, you might want to spend the time to do a bit more work. Repeat the process until the pistons move freely and mostly evenly.
On this note, also make sure the caliper is centered and aligned, not the pads. If the pads come out uneven, use a screwdriver blade to hold back the side that's advancing to allow the others to come out evenly. If this seems confusing, check out some online videos.
I PROMISE this makes a massive difference in how they feel.

I just did this process on an older pair of Hopes, and the difference was incredible. So much better feeling and so much more power.

 

This is what I did. Put the old pads in, opened the bleed port at the lever, pushed pads out with a screwdriver. Put new pads back on and rotor fit fine. First squeeze went to the lever so there's probably a little bit of air in there but I'll figure that out.

If I had more time I would have done that. Most likely do it this weekend.

Headed to Moab in a few hours and my dropper got in the mail yesterday. Holy shit I thought my patrol was fully guided for internal cables, but nope. Couldn't leave the old hose or cable in because reverb. The one up uses a cable. Couldn't get the housing to bend around the BB area either from the seat tube or down tube.
Ended up tying a magnet to some 550 cord, taping a smaller magnet to the cable end, had to take the cranks and BB off, and still finger fuck the shit out of the frame to get the cable through.
Housing was pretty tricky too. There was some foam sleeve over the reverb hose which was protecting it from the BB kink. Managed to finally get it all put back together pretty late and still had to finish packing for today lol.

 

oh that sucks. fishing line helps if you had any. beats paying for the expensive magnet kit that parktool has.

 

Dude! Look up the shop vac string trick… I didn’t believe it at first, but it worked in seconds

 

That's normal, after a few pumps the pistons will move out and the lever will firm up. There is no reason to top anything off at this point. You should be able to use the contact adjustment to get the bite where you want it.