Video: Shimano Brake Maintenance with Minnaar

May 07 — 2020 | Morzine, France

On the Spanners: Shimano Brake Burp with Greg Minnaar and Jason Marsh

Your brakes are squishy. Your brain addled from spending a little too much time hitting 'Yes, I'm still watching.' There's a solution, and it involves a little time, your bike, and only a couple of tools.

'On the Spanners' is a new mini-series where our veteran mechanics from the Syndicate try to teach their other halves the tricks of the trade. All through the power of the Internet and without LIVE or hot tips on achieving a vicious post-quarantine body from inside your home. 

Things kick off with Greg Minnaar and Jason Marsh giving Greg's Shimano brakes a bit of a tune up. Even after achieving G.O.A.T status over 20 years of DH racing... the man's never bled his brakes? Fact or fiction, there's still a question of how Marshy's going to get the thing done through the power of video chat. Or maybe Tik-Tok. Don't @ us.

Greg's Bike and the Wheel Debate

In cased you missed it, the Syndicate guys let loose their freshly-painted V10's into the world in April. Loris and Luca opted for mixed-wheel setups (29" up front and 27.5" in the back) while Greg went with the tried-and-true big-wheels all around. The wheel size debate took a few twists and turns since testing late last fall, which inspired Marshy and Tom to share their two cents.

Outside the world of downhill, there was a mixed bag of wheel sizes in Chile when Loosedog, Iago, Romain Paulhan, and Mitch Ropelato hit the desert for an extended riding trip. Between the Megatowers and Bronsons there was a split of 29er and 27.5 rides in the group, which brought with it an equal mix of flat-out pinning across the anti-grip and back wheel slicing-and-dicing through the trees. Take a look at Iago's Megatower here and some talk of all the guys' bikes over here.