If you have owned a 1200 DVT for longer than me, which isn't hard as I only got mine yesterday, then you already know what a devil of a job it is to bleed the back brake. Thinking I had all the air out of the system, the pedal was still soft and took two pumps to get any real pressure. To get the air out of the system, the calliper had to come off, be lifted up and get turned upside down, so the bleed nipple was at the top, and then out came all the air. What a faff of a job, but it is done, and the rear brake is as sharp as you like and full of Motul RBF 600. As brake fluid won't keep, I did the front brakes too, and finally the clutch. The photo is of the fluid that came out of the clutch. The fluid was carbonised. Think pencil lead that has been ground up and mixed with water. I don't think it had ever been changed in seven years.
TBH it will probably go black again in a few weeks… Once you’ve got a good rear brake it will usually for a decent time, however it is a faff to get it right. Various theories have been suggested but mainly it’s the position and heat that cause it to go off. PS welcome aboard
You did the right thing. Removing rear brake and raising is the only way to do it successfully. Its a faff, but you eventually streamline it after the umpteenth time and it becomes straightforward.
That colour is quite usual for the clutch circuit, even now you have changed it, it wont be long before its that colour again, before I changed to an Oberon slave cylinder I ended up changing my clutch fluid about every 3 months or so, now after fitting the oberon its a once a year routine change
I'll add the Oberon slave cylinder to the list of possible upgrades, just after the starter / battery leads. Thanks for the tip
As soon as my fluids look similar to my morning pee, I change. Every 3mnths or so is about right. As soon as I bought my 1299, the 1st thing I fitted was the Oberon. Why wait for the OEM to fail? It will.
