Bleeding Brakes!

[Old Git]

Stripped & cleaned front calipers, bled system by the book, but no strength in the lever!!!!!
What am I doing wrong? don't have to have engine running do you, no servo is there???
Have now tied the lever back to try that, no leaks visable anywhere, someone beat some sense into me please:smt075

[the_lone_wolf]

No servo on the SV

Which method of bleeding are you using?

[Old Git]

Pump the lever, release the nipple, while holding the handle against the grip, tighten the nipple - Repeat.???

[petevtwin650]

Either need to suck the fluid from the caliper end or leave the bleed nipples on the calipers open and let gravity do it's job.

[the_lone_wolf]

Pump the lever, release the nipple, while holding the handle against the grip, tighten the nipple - Repeat.???

That's what she said...;)


This method will work, but it does take a while and you have to keep an eye on the master cylinder

Have you considered a mityvac (sp?) thingy? Haven't used one myself but a friend has one and is loving it

[Old Git]

never mind the spelling, what the fork do that mean!

[the_lone_wolf]

never mind the spelling, what the fork do that mean!

http://www.mityvac.com/

[Old Git]

cheers bert, not seen that before, looks even more complicated than stripping the calipers!
had read on prev. thread to tie the lever back overnight, now tied it back (pray mode) if this works, what is the mecanism here, my logic just sees lever=pressure, can't see why it should work, but did on other bikes, any ideas???

[petevtwin650]

The Mityvac is a vacuum pump, you may have one already OG ;), that draws the fluid through. It has a canister that the old fluid drops in to. Is very easy to use but quite expensive to buy.

[Old Git]

Pete, don't have one of 'those' vacs, not that old............. yet
O, and yes thought it looked expensive, shame that, I don't do expensive, thats her job:lol:

[Dave20046]

Oops just done mine in 15 mins :razz:

You have an 'S' don't you oldgit? (unless this is your beast)?

Top up the reservoir and open the bleed nipples should get fluid coming through them; tighten them back up and do your lever with little incremental squeezes and what I do (on the faired bikes) is squeeze the link hose from the mastercylinder to the resevoir. pump pump squeeze etc. Then turn the bars all the way to the left and lean the bike over to the left and tap the mastercylinder staraighten it up squeeze the hose again. pump the lever a bit , squeeze the hose etc.etc.
When you start to get resistance in the lever you can squeeze the lever and open the bleed nipple for a second then nip up and release the lever on each caliper.

Works for me (drained and re-bled the system twice this weekend)

[Old Git]

Dave, yep is faired, you sound an expert, you can do mine:fish:
Tap tap little squeeze .......fork, unless I can poke it with a screwdeiver or bang it with a hammer, it is always sloooooow progress:confused:
Have same problem on 'the beast' but on the rear brake so 2 bikes, very little brake on either!
Plenty of go, not alot of stop......watch this space.!!!!!!1

[Dave20046]

IIRC the falco has a reverse method of bleeding the rear brake pm greek or carnivore


Aye ,let us know if you have difficulty but it takes me no more then 5-10minutes tops to start getting pressure with the method I described. You're seeing bubbles appear in the resevoir right? Double check your banjobolts aren't leaking too.

[Old Git]

As said, nipped the banjos last night & tied back the lever, been out this morning & hey presto (pray mode worked) had a good lever!!!
Don't understand what the mechanism for this is, but glad it works, so the SV is back on the road, Hoora.
Thanks Org

Tried the same with the pedal on the Falco, no go, read up some more last night on 'special proceedures, and will be spending more time tinkering than riding again soon:mad:

[Specialone]

As said, nipped the banjos last night & tied back the lever, been out this morning & hey presto (pray mode worked) had a good lever!!!
Don't understand what the mechanism for this is, but glad it works, so the SV is back on the road, Hoora.
Thanks Org

Tried the same with the pedal on the Falco, no go, read up some more last night on 'special proceedures, and will be spending more time tinkering than riding again soon:mad:


Mechanic in a bike shop told me when you're doing a brake fluid change, open banjos, put a long length of tube on the nipples so that they higher than than reservoir and leave for half an hour.
Gravity takes over, then once you have fluid there its simple.
Havent tried this method myself but seemed to make sense.
HTH
Phil

[dirtydog]

Tried the same with the pedal on the Falco, no go, read up some more last night on 'special proceedures, and will be spending more time tinkering than riding again soon:mad:


If it's the same set up as the Mille you'll have fun sorting that out :rolleyes:
Same set up on kitkats Raptor and it's a right pain to bleed through and even when it's bled properly it's still rubbish!

[boot]

As said, nipped the banjos last night & tied back the lever, been out this morning & hey presto (pray mode worked) had a good lever!!!
Don't understand what the mechanism for this is, but glad it works, so the SV is back on the road, Hoora.
Thanks Org

Tried the same with the pedal on the Falco, no go, read up some more last night on 'special proceedures, and will be spending more time tinkering than riding again soon:mad:

Have you happened across this .pdf (http://www.polymoog.homecall.co.uk/bits/bike/009-2007.pdf) yet?

Personally, from experience, even and moderate (not fast) pressure stroke and a slow gentle release, helps in keeping fluid from retracting as much.

The zip-tie overnight thing - I'd expect it's that the pressure in the system would cause any air in the system to move to reservoir, or more accurately, with pressure and gravity, the fluid moves downwards - without the pressure, the air can just float around freely.

[Red Herring]

Pressure won't make any difference to the air, it will still work it's way to the highest point. The problem with conventional bleeding is that you are trying to push the air down the brake lines towards the calipers as quickly as it is trying to rise up the lines towards the master cylinder. The quickest way round the problem is to fill a syringe with brake fluid and inject it into the system via the bleed nipple on the caliper. That way you push the air up and in effect fill the system from the bottom. Worth checking the route of the brake lines for air traps (some bikes have pipes that go over the top of the mudguard and link the calipers) in which case detach things and make sure the air can always go upwards. Another favorite on sports bikes is the banjo end of the master cylinder, with clip ons it tends to point upwards, again detach the cylinder (or turn the handlebars) so that the cylinder is hotizontal.
Works every time for me.

[breakz187]

I think i can contribute to this, and i dont think its been mentioned yet.

It helped me when i used that plumbers tape/mate on the threads of the bleed nipples.