Anyone know anything about disc brakes?

As this video was not the video I tried to find, here’s some difference;

I recommend turning levers position horizontally (90 degrees) unlike the video demonstrating.

Make sure you can turn handlebar 90 degrees both side without fouling the brakes housing.

PUT YOUR OLIVE IN FIRST BEFORE YOU TAP THE BARB IN, sometime the barb expand and make it harder to push the olive in.

Lastly; you shouldn’t need to bleed the system, it should be ready to go as it is.

Thanks for the tips/video. Won't be going to LBS as that option is reserved only for when expensive tools are needed that I won't use again. Much better to buy tools and know how to fix your own bike IMO.

I assume I will need bleed kit/oil for the longer replacement front hose?

Yup you do, again that would be more cost-effective from a LBS with miminal fuss.

You'll have to put new oil if the plan is replacing the whole hose, so siringe, oil and cup

Gravel/bikepacking bike. 160mm rotors front and back or 160 rear/140 front or 140 rear/160 front or 140 front and rear?

160 both.

Noted. Thanks.

Touring with hydraulic disc brakes

Has anyone done this? When hydraulics go wrong, how easy are they to fix miles from anywhere with no tools? What is most likely to fail on a hydraulic set up? Off around ireland next uear and Interested to hear from anyone with practical experience. Thanks!

Not touring but I've had no issues crossing USA twice and Europe 4x
Ireland is tiny, you're not going to be that far from a bike shop and the beauty of hydro is you can run one brake and not die so take it easy and roll to a shop but normally if you set them up properly and carry spare pads you will have no issues unless you crash.

@Jaap has a good story about this.

I've had the O-ring where the hydraulic line meets the rear calliper fail somewhere in rural France. None of the bicycle shops within 30km had that O-ring so after the third descent without a rear brake I called it quits and caught a train home.

I have to say, this was about 4 years ago. Hydraulic road bike disc brakes weren't a thing at the time. Nowadays more shops would probably stock the right O-rings for Shimano brakes. Also since that incident I haven't had any issues at all with my brakes.

Touring with hydraulic disc brakes

Do it.

Reassuring. I'll be running the new Shimano GRX brakes, which I think are around the same level as 105 kit.

Ok, so maybe pack a couple spare o rings. My main worry is, if something catastrophically leaks, where will I find brake fluid? Could I use olive oil or something?

RX800, 600 or 400?

In a pinch, yes, or better: baby oil. A few youtubers have done baby oil experiments and in the short term there are no ill effects. It will void your warranty though if you care about that...

Citroën (car brand) brake fluid would work, and so would baby oil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drBghc6GSWQ

Edit: @chiroshi beat me to it!

There are different levels within the GRX range but I’m not sure how exactly that match with either the road or the mtb offerings. Or perhaps they don’t.

400 = Sora (= Deore?)
600 = 105 (= SLX?)
800 = Ultegra (= XT?)

Is my understanding.

I think 400 is more tiagra/deore.

Their model identification is a mess and until they had GRX they didn’t even have a range name to separate road or mtb components that I’m aware of. Not that Campagnolo are much better but at least why only have a road range (don’t they?)

It's all pretty easy if you ask me, codes for them have been simplified since going R8000/M8000 too, not that they were that difficult before, GRX are a bit unusual in that they don't follow that convention, G7000 or something for the 800 might've made more sense.

GRX 400. Not sure you can compare with Sora since there's no sora hydraulic brakes?

The only reason I went with GRX is because they do cross-top levers, which I need for my slightly broken hands.

It's tiagra/deore, 10 speed, hydro, works and looks more or less the same as the better stuff but heavier and cheaper materials, no ceramic pistons etc.