Anyone know anything about disc brakes?

Fair play but aren't these Ultegra?

Yes I am buying a house

Bleed as per instructions. Close lever bleed port. Force some more fluid into caliper with syringe. Then squeeze, see if that helps.

@Dammit ^^^ what he said. Forget depressing the lever. Never felt the need to do it on any Shimano road system yet.
Caliper lower than lever?

If you need to declutter I take a 28 front hub (non disc) and 80mm stem required for CX.

Bleed as per instructions. Close lever bleed port. Force some more fluid into caliper with syringe. Then squeeze, see if that helps.

This worked, fuck YouTube

I've recently swapped to an RS505 caliper on the rear due to an issue with my RS785 caliper, but was wondering if there's a way to fix the old one.

The issue is that the piston wouldn't retract. It'd push back in a little bit but felt very crunchy and would then stop completely. No fluid leak and no obvious signs of damage to the face of the piston. I've swapped it out and have now emptied the fluid out of it and it still won't retract. Any idea what the issue is? Is it worth dicking about with it or getting it warrantied or is it dead?

Sounds like a sticky piston, which is a pretty common issue with disc brakes. It’s really easy to rectify, there’s loads of tutorials on YouTube.

Hmm, when it was still attached to the bike, I did push the piston out as far as I felt it could go and cleaned around the sides of it with mineral oil, but it'd only go so far back in before making a disgusting crunching sound. Is awful crunching expected with a sticky piston?

I think my Maguras have this. I cleaned them up already. I'm not going to do it again so is there a good bang for buck Shimano MTB lever/caliper set I should buy to replace these annoying Maguras?

I'd say MT500. It has the nice lever shape of the higher end brakes, but a bit heavier, adjustment via allen keys rather than thumbwheels.

Adjustment? What a wonderful new world I'm about to enter...

So this kind of thing:
https://www.bike24.com/p2234332.html

Only reach really, so once it’s set, it shouldn’t change unless your hands grow, or you lose a finger....

That’s exactly what I was looking at.

Knowing my freakish medical history both of these are actually possible but let's assume for now I don't require a red knob on my levers..

Crunching sound on RS785 : most probably broken ceramic piston :(

Shimano does not sell piston as spare parts AFAIK.. Good luck.

Ouch, that looks like what it sounds like when I try to push it in with a tyre lever. Is it common for the back/inside of the piston to break? Any idea what causes it?

SLX or XT gets you ceramic pistons and knobs, Zee for extra pistons and all the power.

This is for the Inbred. It's basically a fun bike/commuter at the moment so doesn't need anything proper although I did give it XT(R?) cranks because they sexy.

SLX then, although deore are absolutely fine.

I do have a left hand SLX rear going spare. Brand new unused, 35 quid.

Just got me some Shimano ST-RS685 levers & calipers as an upgrade from the no-name cable ones that game on my CAADX. It's like night and day, the cable ones had got so bad they barely even worked, these Shimano ones will do an emergency stop with 1 finger.

Which version?

M7000 are about £120 a full set from CRC at the moment. Tempted to get them.

M675 and it's right hand rear not left.