Bleeding disc brakes - tips for instant engagement

Hey folks - I know the basics of bleeding road disc brakes but are there any tips or tricks out there for bleeding them in such a way that you’ll get almost instant engagement when you pull the lever. I want there to be as minimal of travel as possible before the pads engage the rotor.

I’m able to bleed them so that I can stop the bike and that the lever doesn’t hit the bar, but it still takes a bit for the brakes to engage.

Do I still have air in the system? Do I need to futz with the reach and stroke prior to bleeding and then reset them? It’s ultegra 8000 if that helps. Thanks!

Ultegra 8000 should have a free stroke adjustment screw that does this independent of the bleed process.

i’ll assume you have all the air out of the line, but if you use a 8mm or 10mm box wrench instead of a shimano bleed block it will allow you to get the pistons slightly further out than the block does which will create almost instant bite point. if i had a bleed block and calipers handy here i would measure and tell you which one. if you have a bleed block just hold a 8mm or 10mm beside and you’ll see which is the closest and use that.
Now this works wonderfully on DH bikes because you dont really care about minimal disc rub, but on a road bike it might be another story. havent had to do it yet on my ultegra 8000 setup, but i can say for saint and XT stuff it works wonderfully.

This happened to me by accident. I was bleeding my brakes. Before i could finish, i had to go and pick something up for my wife - left the bike on the stand. When i came back home, I got distracted doing things around the house. A few hours later, i came back to finish bleeding my brakes.

I pressed the brake lever, it was firm - YES…I realized the air had risen and come out of the system over the time I was away…Now I start the bleed process and leave it overnight.

Might work…