The outside bolt on the Shimano BR-R785 brake levers handles reach adjustment - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The angled bolt on the inside of the lever handles the adjustment of free stroke before the braking kicks in – that s another feature that will be familiar to mountain bike brake users - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Remove the cover and pull back the hood cover and you can adjust both the reach and the engagement point of the brake (how far the lever travel before the braking force starts to ramp up to full power) - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The brakes have a dedicated bleed kit with all the tools for the job - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Bleeding starts with the removal of the STI units bleed screw - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The fluid overspill cap will be familiar to mountain bike brake owners - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Marcus, Shimano’s mechanic, prefers to remove the calliper from the frame to inject the fluid. He says it just makes things easier - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The hose lines also have these handy splitters - great for switching Euro style brake setups to our preferred UK ‘moto’ style - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The calliper is based on current Shimano XT and the performance is tuned for road use by the shifter unit - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
IceTech Freeza rotors have the unique cooling fins carried over from mountain bikes - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Our test bikes ran 160mm rotors but Shimano are confident that the full production 140mm will be enough - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The BMC test bike's aluminium frame integrated the rear calliper very neatly - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The highly finned (for cooling) pads are available in either resin or metal bodies - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Out of the box, rotors need some scrubbing in - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Fins and channels to help cool the brake pads - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Shimano's new hydraulic road brake attached to a BMC aluminium fork - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
Contrary to earlier reports the Shimano R785 Di2 STI unit is considerably bigger than a standard mechanical Di2 - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The taller shape is still as slim as a standard unit and the lever shape is similar - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The RX31 wheelset is Shimano’s first disc road wheel, it uses a new wider (23mm) rim and ours were running 25c Vittoria tyres - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
The RX31 hubs use a straight-pull spoke design - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
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.
Bleeding starts with the removal of the sti units bleed screw: bleeding starts with the removal of the sti units bleed screw - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
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: marcus, shimano’s mechanic, prefers to remove the calliper from the frame to inject the fluid. he says it just makes things easier - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
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, rotors need some scrubbing in: out of the box, rotors need some scrubbing in - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
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: contrary to earlier reports the shimano r785 di2 sti unit is considerably bigger than a standard mechanical di2 - Warren Rossiter/Future Publishing
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.
Shimano r785 hydraulic disc brakes impressions
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.
Warren is our senior technical editor for road and gravel. With 27 years of experience, he’s been testing bikes since before BikeRadar and the internet existed!
With an encyclopedic knowledge of bikes and what some would consider an excessive bike collection, Warren has been the mastermind behind our road Bike of the Year tests for over a decade. He has penned more than 2,750 bike tests.
His words have been published in Cycling Plus, Bikeradar, Mountain Biking UK, What Mountain Bike, Urban Cyclist, Procycling, Cycling News, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, T3 and a whole host of other publications. You’ll also find Warren as a regular on the BikeRadar Podcast and our YouTube channel.
He’s covered all the 21st-century innovations in cycling and ridden in Europe, Asia, Australasia, America and Africa. He’s been a judge for the Eurobike awards and judged handmade bikes at Bespoked.
Height: 6’2”/188cm
Bike size:58cm/L/XL
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