I've had mine for a few years trouble free, only problem I've had is the plastic tubes can harden,easily solved by dipping in hot water(or new tubes) and I'm sure it's cheaper to replace than pay a garage to do it? Using the bikes m/c is fine until you get a airlock at the m/c banjo Union,try cracking that joint open to bleed it and stop fluid spraying all over your freshly prepared classic! Or when the rear caliper is fitted upside down?or your priming a fuel filter line! It's a great useful tool and if I was using one for regular use I would most likely buy a more robust one,but I'm not,so I don't!
No, you attach it to the bleed nipple and pump it to creat a vacume which pulls the fluid down from the master cylinder,all you have to do is be sure to keep the m/c full so that no air is pulled into the system,once you have clean fresh air free fluid coming into the catch reservoir just lock the bleed nipple and job done, (if it breaks? Send it back for full refund,eBay rules!)
I have one like that made by Sealey. Quality is ok. Trouble I find is that the vacuum draws air in through the thread of the cracked open bleed nipple, so you always get bubbles coming out with the fluid. I think it would be better to pressurise the master cylinder and push the fluid out rather than a vacuum at the bleed nipple, but not seen any kits as I guess you would need caps for your specific master cylinder.
Put pft plumbers tape around any loose thread for a better seal,but I find any fluid in that area usually would seal air leaks! I've never had any bother bleeding brakes,I have a tool fetish and like trying new things,this one works(industry uses it!) it's clean and quick,so it suits me,
Brakes were bleed well. No air and good pressure at levers. However, still markedly better after a night with a cable tie. Less lever travel. I'm thinking racing setup would be easier to maintain as no loop over front mudguard for air to gather.
I bit like getting the Bends in diving, nitrogen in the blood comes out and forms bubbles if pressure reduced too quiclky.
As a kind of educated guess, I would say that the cable tie trick may work by pressurising the system so that any air trapped in out of the way nooks and crannies dissolves into the fluid. This would then presumably mean that the air would then be free to migrate and disperse itself uniformly throughout the fluid in the entire system. Subsequent release of pressure would cause the dissolved air to separate, but some of it would now be in a different location, from where it could be bled more easily .. or perhaps would "self-bleed" through the master cylinder. I'm not saying that's definitely what happens, but it seems half likely.
If your hypothesis is correct, regular application would eventually fully bleed the system. Interesting...
Yes, that would seem to be the case. Although I can imagine that sustained overnight pressure may give more chance of the dissolved air migrating out of the nooks and crannies. Short bursts of braking pressure in normal use may not have quite the same effect. But as said before, this is only educated guesswork.
Sorry, didn't mean application of the brakes, I meant application of the trick - poor choice of word...
I used an Eezibleed for years for bleeding car brakes and adapted an old reservoir cap to fit on the master cylinders of my bevels. It worked great but I seem to have misplaced it in recent times.
Likewise. Unfortunately brake reservoir caps come in a vast range of shapes, sizes and threads. Gunson supply caps for bleeding in a range of sizes, but inevitably the size you need will not be there. Obtain a spare cap for your bike, drill a hole in it, install a connecting pipe, and use it whenever you need to sort some brakes. And good bleeding luck!
Arrrr the old cable tie trick , in most cases it's not air , it does not make the brakes anymore powerful just takes out the travel from the lever . When the lever is tied back the caliper Pistons ' creep ' through the seals bring them closer to the pads albeit only thousandths of an inch but times that with 4 Pistons on most set ups it is enough so when you let the cable tie off the lever has very little initial travel .....the pistons are snugged against the pads giving that ' solid ' lever feel . Ride the bike on the road and as discs warm up and expand and contract it pushes the Pistons back again hence why it's only a temporary fix. If you 'prop' a brake pedal down on a car and leave it over night you get excatly the same feel (I'm talking a car with discs all round ) Think of this ...if you tie a lever back how can any air diffuse back into the resovoir ....the resvoir is closed off when the master cylinder piston is down the bore the air could not escape in this position
My theory (as stated earlier) is that the air comes out by bleeding itself back through the reservoir .. but obviously not while the system is still pressurised, only when you release the lever and thus open the path to the reservoir. Your point about creep at the seals is interesting and is something that I hadn't considered before .. but although it may happen, I'm not convinced that it is the sole mechanism behind the cable tie trick.
Why does it still work when a system has been throughly bleed with fresh un opened bottle of brake fluid and there is no air in the system Tieing for the lever back still makes the lever feel better and in most cases the lever is not a spongy feel but has more travel . I'm not saying that in some cases that there is not trapped air in some systems , I just don't buy that every system has trapped air and the cable tie trick always improves lever feel and travel
I used to be very sceptical about this but last year when fitting the brakes to the Pantah I couldn't get a firm lever on the front brake for love nor money. It didn't matter what I did there was still air trapped somewhere. In desperation I tie-wrapped the lever to the bar and left it for a couple of days. When I tried it next the lever was firm and has remained so ever since, about 4 or 5 months now. So the air must have gone somewhere. I can only assume that it dissolves in the fluid then subsequently comes out of solution at the highest point when the pressure is relieved, usually the master cylinder where it finds it's way out via the port to the reservoir.
Would you say that if the bike was left to stand without the lever tied back that the air which will always want to migrate to the highest point would be able to return to the resvoir anyhow . Like I've already said in some cases there will be air , but why on a completely free of air system does the cable tie trick make the lever feel much better , it's not a spongy feel but less travel from the lever
Just fitted a Brembo RCS m/cylinder and brand new individual race lines to my 1098R. Once I'd worked out all the routing and position of lines, reservoir, throttle cables etc I filled the system and bled it in about 30 mins. No cable tie nonsense, just careful bleeding starting at the furthest lowest points and ending up at the master cylinder.
Bleeding hydraulics? pain in the ass I tell ya! This is as fail-safe a way as I've come across: Always bleed the component that is the highest vertically only. Without touching anything this would be your front m/c. If you have problems getting a good feel after bleeding the calipers then you have to make the calipers higher vertically than the m/c, so take em off and raise em, tie em up or whatever, and bleed them. Same with the rear caliper - if it's lower than your rear m/c then remove the caliper and raise it higher than the m/c then bleed it. Same with the clutch slave. This way the air rises to the highest point naturally - which should be your current bleed nipple. If you still can't get a great feel after doing the above then try reverse bleeding to try and find the hidden bubble(s), to do this you open the bleed valve and force fluid into the bleed valve, the system's excess fluid comes out of the reservoir so you must keep an eye on that overflowing! Obviously use fresh fluid that has had minimal time to absorb moisture. Old copper washers can be annealed with a lighter and then quenching and reused if necessary.
