Shimano BR-R785 road hydraulic disc brakes: under the hoods
Getting the brake fluid topped up and ready to roll, plus riding video
Published:
Shimano’s recent press camp in Sicily gave us a detailed look at the latest addition to their electronic drivetrains, the Shimano BR-R785 road hydraulic disc brakes.
See also:
- Shimano BR-R785 road hydraulic disc brakes – first look
- Shimano R785 electric/hydraulic road system review
- Video: Shimano BR-R785 Road Disc Brake Tested
Click on the gallery for a quick run-through on how to get the hydraulic units fluid filled and ready to roll.
Bleeding starts with the removal of the STI unit’s bleed screw
Marcus, Shimano’s mechanic, prefers to remove the calliper from the frame to inject the fluid. He says it just makes things easier
Out of the box, the rotors need some scrubbing in
Contrary to earlier reports the Shimano R785 Di2 STI unit is considerably bigger than a standard mechanical Di2
We’ll have plenty more to add to our Shimano BR-R785 review in the coming days but for now, check out some GoPro footage below of our tester Warren Rossiter getting to grips with the brakes on a 17km descent in Sicily. This was the first of three days of testing and the brakes were still wearing in, hence quite noisy. By day 3, the noise had all but disappeared.
Video: Shimano BR-R785 hydraulic brake testing in Italy
E-tube technology
The new pairing of Di2 STI levers and hydraulic disc brakes can be added to 11-speed Dura-Ace Di2 and 10- and 11-speed Ultegra Di2, providing you have a disc compatible frame.
The levers are based on E-tube technology, Shimano’s control software. Think of it like a CAN bus communicator in a car, the tech that tells you when you have a light out, or need to top up the fluids.
The E-tube project is accessed via the new charger or the diagnostic kit (available seperately). This allows you to add in new units to the system, such as sprinter shifters, TT shifters, or change the standard Di2 STIs for hydraulics. It also means you can configure the shift buttons to however you want, and alter the shift speed and multishift settings (the whole block or, say, 2 or 3 gears at a time). The E-tube software is web-based and accessed via the E-tube project website.
Authors
Warren Rossiter is BikeRadar and Cycling Plus magazine’s senior technical editor for road and gravel. Having been testing bikes for more than 20 years, Warren has an encyclopedic knowledge of road cycling and has been the mastermind behind our Road Bike of the Year test for more than a decade. He’s also a regular presenter on the BikeRadar Podcast and on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel. In his time as a cycling journalist, Warren has written for Mountain Biking UK, What Mountain Bike, Urban Cyclist, Procycling, Cyclingnews, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike and T3. Over the years, Warren has written about thousands of bikes and tested more than 2,500 – from budget road bikes to five-figure superbikes. He has covered all the major innovations in cycling this century, and reported from launches, trade shows and industry events in Europe, Asia, Australia, North American and Africa. While Warren loves fast road bikes and the latest gravel bikes, he also believes electric bikes are the future of transport. You’ll regularly find him commuting on an ebike and he longs for the day when everyone else follows suit. You will find snaps of Warren’s daily rides on the Instagram account of our sister publication, Cycling Plus (@cyclingplus).
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