2013 Shimano Saint M820 - Overview and Ride Report

Shimano's new M820 Saint group has just come off the production lines – and I had a chance to shred the new gear in Whistler for the past 3 days.

Tons of photos and thoughts on the new gravity group here...[

](http://nsmb.com/5309)

great write up, motay, i look forward to the long term review. also, that shot that sterl took of you is pure ballin'.

"The one-way bleed process has also been refined for ease of maintenance"

Do you know if that means their existing bleed kit doesn't work with these levers? Also, any indication if these levers work with the older M810 calipers?

"The one-way bleed process has also been refined for ease of maintenance"

Do you know if that means their existing bleed kit doesn't work with these levers? Also, any indication if these levers work with the older M810 calipers?

It is the same bleed process that all the new(er) Shimano brakes use.

You don't need any special bleed kits but the Shimano (cheap little yellow) reservoirs are the cleanest way to bleed them.

The new masters will work fine with the M810 calipers. Lots (lots) of people use the M785 and M985 (XT [HTML_REMOVED] XTR Trail) masters with the old M810 calipers as the ergonomics of the new levers are much better.

-D

Lots (lots) of people use the M785 and M985 (XT [HTML_REMOVED] XTR Trail) masters with the old M810 calipers as the ergonomics of the new levers are much better.

huh, hadn't thought of that. would they work with the generation before that (m800)? i like the look and ergonomics of the newest gen of shimano brakes, but have 2 sets of perfectly good second generation brakes going that i'm not inclined to replace

M800's wont get the same benefits, its a significantly different fluid volume.

^ Yep. Lots of issues by matching up the new XT/XTR levers with the old 810 calipers. Could be potentially dangerous when you pull the brake to the bar unexpectedly.

^ Yep. Lots of issues by matching up the new XT/XTR levers with the old 810 calipers. Could be potentially dangerous when you pull the brake to the bar unexpectedly.

Do you mean the old version 1.0 M800 calipers or the newer-but-old version 2.0 M810 calipers? If so, who's right, you or Drew?

Do you mean the old version 1.0 M800 calipers or the newer-but-old version 2.0 M810 calipers? If so, who's right, you or Drew?

If you want to enter a whole new world of pain, google "shimano bh90 brake hose" and figure it out ;) Shimano don't even give you the full answer in their Techdocs. But in short, the newer (high end) hoses have narrower bores, which affects the fluid being pumped, but also creates issues with barbs / connections etc. So don't try and join to units together that are designed to use different hoses, i.e. 1st gen Saint with new stuff, Deore with XTR etc.

My dad bought my Saint M-810's and equipped them with some fancy XTR levers. They appear to work great! I'm still not completely sold though. I would like to see if they (and the mineral oil they use) handle big changes in temperature any better with the different levers. Last year I had to adjust my lever position when I went into the Garbo zone.

Nice little article Morgan! How were you shooting all the chest mount shots? It looks like a GoPro.
Also, what's with the number plates?

How were you shooting all the chest mount shots? It looks like a GoPro.
Also, what's with the number plates?

Thanks Garrett. Yeah it was a GoPro chest mount – I set it to take a shot every 5 seconds until I killed the battery, occasionally lining up a specific shot like the Fade to Black sign.

The number plates were used to identify our bikes and to help recognize who people were when wearing helmets etc.

Did I read correctly that the shifter only releases two gears with a thumb push of two clicks but if you pull the release trigger it can only release one gear? Seems odd that Shimano would do this for Saint but not other shifters.

You read correctly - maybe we'll see Shimano introduce this functionality in future versions of their other shifters as well.

"On some frames in the test camp – mostly FSR bikes – the derailleur was knocking against the chainstay and had to be switched into wide ratio mode, which did not appear to affect shift performance on the 25 tooth cassettes"

Whats wide ratio mode? How do you switch it?