How To Bleed New Sram MTB Brakes | Bleeding Edge Technology

Bleeding brakes is a great compared to installing internally routed cables.

thanks- my first bleed of my SRAM DOT brakes after doing Shimano Mineral Oil for the last 6 years. cheers

Water spray should be just fine for neutralizing brake fluid as the fluid itself is hydrophobic, shouldn't it?

I have found that this procedure results in very mushy brakes on sram code R and code RSC brakes. To get the brakes feeling good, after air is bubbled out, close up the lever port, then with the caliper still open apply pressure on the caliper syringe and hold it tight. While holding the pressure with your thumb, close the caliper bleed port, then release pressure from the syringe. Now the lever will not be mushy.

Thank you, perfect tutorial 😊

Still a great video! just bled my new set of Code RSC’s after shortening the cables, went great 😁

So much easier to do Shimano brakes. No idea why SRAM still uses brake fluid instead of mineral oil. Absolutely no need.

I regret I sold my twenty-year-old race bike and bought a modern bike. My old bike was easily user serviceable with basic tools, my current bike needs a specialized tool for what seems like every component...

All this video did was confirm I want no part of this process and will give my LBS some money to do it for me. 😂

I really like this video. I wonder what sort of watch you have on your arm. I think it's very cool.

junk sram get rid

I like how you run the rear brake on the left side... The only way to go

So my question is, why not have the bleeding edge on both ends? Could pressurise the heck out of these bad boys.

Why would you not pressurise from the bottom using the bleeding edge tool?

Hi, can you use other brands of brake fluids with the same DOT rating?

Thanks Doddy. I just finished bleeding my brakes for the very first 😁

Just done this with an Epic bleed kit. A combination of this vid and epic kit instructions 👌

Superb. My brakes will be serviced beyond any reproach.

Why don't they put the bleeding edge on the lever side. That is the messy side when disconnecting

Thanks Doddy! Really pleased with the instructions and I did my brakes spot on. Thanks again

Video could have been 30seconds long

Great video, Thanks. I have a question though. What about the older models that you mention, that don't have the "edge" tech? How do you remove the syringe and get the plug back in without getting air in the system?

Great video thank you! Question while I got the rear caliper working just fine I still can’t get the front one to engage. In fact, when I go through the bleeding process, I don’t even get any bubbles which is strange. Any suggestions?

Everything feels great until I reinstall the wheel. Could I be using a bleed block that's too thick? It feels the same as before I did the brake bleed. I feel like I followed the instructions exactly but get different results. Anyone else having this issue?

Followed this when upgrading LevelT to Code R on my Levo. Codes working great. Good modulation and can lock either wheel at will. Only problem is the bite point. Initially it was poor on both brakes (probably result of the Epic bleed block width). I managed to get the rear good by removing the wheel and operating the brake carefully to close up the pads. The same trick on the front improved them but the bite point front & rear are annoyingly different. Any tips.

thank you for this excellent video. using your guidance here I was able to bleed the brakes instead of waiting weeks for my bike shop’s next availability.

you make it look so easy!

The code R’s on my reign are bloody awful. They have to travel about 2mm before contacting the disk

Only part I can't work out is having to pressurise they system but when you take brake upper hose off to put screw back in what pressure you did build has gone 🤔. I would of thought once the air has been removed you'd put screw back in on the brake lever then pressurise from the caliper and shut valve then remove and then the system in my eyes would be pressurised. Or am I seeing all wrong 🤔 😕

You might want to note that isn't regular WD40 but WD40 branded BRAKE CLEANER which won't leave any residue, unlike normal WD40 would!

I have never heard of corrosive brake fluid - it is usually a pure hydrocarbon oil - it will not bother pain, but it certainly gets absorbed in the brake pads = weaken/swell

Hi, my SRAM Code R’s are about four years old. I have taken good care of them giving them a fresh bleed once a year with new pads. My front brake pads are way to close to the rotors. Seems like the don’t retract much at all. I then rebuilt the caliber, but this did not fix the problem. I have followed your video and I can not get these brakes to not rub. Just too close to the rotor. I feel like when I do my final push to pressurize the system it pushes the pistons out to far??? Not sure what I am doing wrong, please help🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

It's not simple, I think it was a pain in the ass.

I'm really surprised you don't de-gas the new dot fluid before you push it through. I was taught by Sram racing to pull all of the bubbles out of the syringes and line before bleeding it, then pressurizing the system before sealing it up.

Thank you for this video.

Wonder how you guys clean the bleeding tool? I just wiped the outside of the tools by isopropyl alcohol. However I didn’t clean the inside of the syringe and the pipe.

Hi. I wonder if you can help? I have a cube stereo MTB which has sram guide r brakes on it. I recently went on a trip and the weather was rather nice and warm and my brakes began to bind. By the time we stopped for lunch they had completely seized. I took it to a mechs and they said the pistons inside the sram levers had become stuck probably due to a combination of the weather and the old brake fluid. Having had this experience friends are telling me it’s a problem with Stan brakes and to swap them out for a set of magura. The question is do I replace the seals and fluid and keep up regular annual fluid renewals on the srams or swap them out for the magura or are these also potentially susceptible? If it’s a common problem I’ll swap them out but if it was a one off due to my poor brake lever maintenance I’ll just rebuild them. Thoughts please? Thanks

Doddy is it ok to use car brake fluid?

Enough with the “wipe up the oil” my gawd we got it.

Great Video, Thank you!
I used SRAM Standard Bleed Kit with DOT 5.1 Brake Fluid. Everything went according to plan except for one thing: When I was keeping the caliper syringe vertical and pulling up on the lever syringe, the caliper syringe plunger was not moving. It is not clear to me what the cause may have been, since before I pushed the liquid into the caliper syringe, it flowed without any problems.

I've found the best way to bleed these is to simply push the fluid back and forth between the two syringes 10 or 15 times. Forces all of the air out and leaves a perfect lever. SO easy. 3 minutes per brake.

Well done.Follow that.

Hey, this is really useful and clear, thank you - only issue I have is that when I remove the top syringe right near the end then fluid pees out of the handle and I lose pressure. I've sealed the bottom end and followed all of the instructions to the letter. thoughts ?

Cheers mate you've made me feel confident enough to buy the service kit and try the job myself .

Me when i bleed my brakes fluid comes out the brake lever any solution ??

Great video tutorial!!
I found though that removing the syringes in the reverse order is better.
Removing the lever end last always ended up with leakage & losing the pressure when unscrewing the nozzle.
If you remove the lever end first and put in the lock screw,. Then when you go to the calliper end, you can pressurise with the syringe, then close off the screw nozzle to maintain the pressure. Then unplug the nozzle & tighten the bolt. No mess, better pressure retention.

Doddy, thank you for escorting me through my first brakes bleed on my 2021 SC Tallboy. Sadly the base level SRAM G2 brakes that came on my S-carbon bike build were the older, pre-bleeding edge system, but the bleed process wasn’t that much worse than what you showed. I clamped my bike with her tail up in the air. When I removed the syringe from the rear caliper port a couple drops of oil scooted out before I could reinsert the port screw. Squeezing the plunger at the handlebar forced a tiny bubble and a couple drops of oil out out the rear port before I tightened the screw down. Everything else was the same as in your video.

I probably could have figured it out without your video, and the Park Tools brakes bleed video is also excellent, but I doubt it would have gone as smoothly on my first attempt without your crystal-clear instructions. Bravo!

Great video, thank you. How do you clean and prepare the syringes for the next bleed though? Do you have to run isopropyl alcohol through them or just get all the oil you can out of them by pressing the syringe and just get the new oils in on the next run? Maybe a little cross contamination doesn't hurt that much on the left over oil?

This still results in a mushy lever that takes a lot of travel before it bites. If you want to firm it up, you need to do it with the wheels on and pads in. If you don't need a full bleed, connect at the caliper, then loosen the bolt at the lever. Open the valve and force fluid in at the caliper until it comes out the lever, then put the lever bolt back in. Then give the syringe some pressure and close off the valve at the caliper. You do need to be careful doing this and clean up any spilled fluid. This will get the brakes much closer to the fast initial bite that you may expect from Shimano, while still giving you the good modulation you expect from SRAM.

Does anyone else have the problem that they can’t actually get the bleed block into the calliper?????