hairy nipples

sorry, i mean possible air intake through nipple. changed rear pads no problem. copperslipped pins ok. put little bleeder on rear nipple on inside of caliper-nearest wheel, resovoir cap off and proceeded to bleed system. all was going shing shang except i noticed air bubbles being drawn into little bleeder pipe from nipple. nipped up a fraction with fluid still pumping out ok and no air at all. fine me thinks until i tightened up nipple and found rear brake peddle depresses to the bottom before any preasure on pads. i am certain all air is now out of system and am leaving overnight. did it all in 1hr and thought cracked it. any suggestions. if air is in system-wouldn't take long to expell would it

huh..what a terrible disappointment and misleading head line!

[embee]

You'll need to bleed from both nips on a curvy bike, one on each cylinder of the rear caliper. Do the outer one first (where the hose comes in to the caliper), then the inner one

I assume you checked the reservoir all the time you were bleeding. If you empty the reservoir you'll need to start all over again I'm afraid

Originally Posted by Peter Henry

huh..what a terrible disappointment and misleading head line!

Huh, disapointing, have you got a thing about hairy nipples PH.

Originally Posted by embee

You'll need to bleed from both nips on a curvy bike, one on each cylinder of the rear caliper. Do the outer one first (where the hose comes in to the caliper), then the inner one

I assume you checked the reservoir all the time you were bleeding. If you empty the reservoir you'll need to start all over again I'm afraid

embee, cheers bud. will do. yep kept an eye on resevoir thanks.
peter - watch it mate you mr. attitude you. got your attention though

Originally Posted by embee

You'll need to bleed from both nips on a curvy bike, one on each cylinder of the rear calliper. Do the outer one first (where the hose comes in to the calliper), then the inner one

I assume you checked the reservoir all the time you were bleeding. If you empty the reservoir you'll need to start all over again I'm afraid

What Embee said. Sounds like you have either sucked air from the reservoir or you have not bled both of the nipples on the rear calliper. I always bleed the outer one first, then the inner one, and then the outer one again for good measure.

When doing this, always check the reservoir and never let it get low enough so as to let air in.

cheers big ape. never done a rear caliper before. do they all have two nips or dependant on design i only bled from inside one but can see my mistake already. no problem.

Having been bleeding one of my front calipers today, I came to the conclusion that air can get in round the base of the bleed nipple if it isn't pinched up before you release the lever. I was using a valved bleed pipe and just pumping away , and noticed the continued presense of a bubble or two. Once I did it the hard way; couple of squeezes to pressurise, then hold, open the nipple, close the nipple, release, the bubbles stopped.

Why was I bleeding one caliper? It was seizing on. I found one of the pistons wasn't moving properly. I ended up pumping it out and, cleaned the aluminium salts off and reassembled. Ah, much better now.

if i have only bled the inside caliper and there is possibly air in the outside one, would this be why there is so much brake lever travel then. as for applying heat (tried a good tap) on outside nipple (seized solid), are we talking haidrier/small blowlamp will i damage any other components if i use blowlamp (handheld gas lighter re-fill type) probably stating obvious but dont want to knacker anything if i can help it.

..............quick update.....got blowtorch on caliper housing around nipple and managed to loosen sodding siezed nipple. bled system as you stated and all is up and running. thanks very much for your help folks. must admit would be lost without this site. much appreciated. hate to think what you would pay at a dealers service shop.