wayneg

~SPONSOR~
Aug 29, 2001
544
0
After seeing many many posts on other boards about the problems with brake bleeding and how difficult it really is with trials bikes, with their small volume fluid systems. I finally came to the realisation that it really isn't that hard.

My rear brakes had an air leak, and were a B!TCH to properly bleed. After playing around with the adjuster rod, and setting it up so that there was absolutely no free play on the lever - I got the whole system bled in about 15 minutes. This is a world record!!! I have never ever got ALL of the air out of my Beta's rear brake system with less than a huge 2 hour struggle, and tools being flung in anger about the workshop and lots of swearing. Re-adjust the rod again to allow a bit of freeplay, and perfect rear brakes!!!

What a completely stupid bloody idiot!!! Why didn't I think that I should re-adjust the lever freeplay before starting the job?? I had just replaced the rear brake pads, and pushed the pistons on the caliper back into the caliper to help make the new pads fit. Why didn't I think that maybe after adjusting the brakes to take up the lost material in the pads for the past six months that I should readjust things back to how they should be.....DOH!

Why didn't anybody tell me about this before????

I also tried this with the front brakes, and guess what?? After paying a bit more attention as to where the piston in the master cylinder should be adjusted - again the whole process was made much easier than normal. Again 15 minutes or less to completely remove any air bubbles from the system.

What is the moral of the story so far - don't let me near your bike with a spanner!!!! Not unless you want to crash at least as badly as me!!
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,774
0
Weel ya' know last time Tex and I rode he was bustin' my chops about my brakes, want to come take care of them for me? I can put ya' up for a night or two and feed ya' beer & BBQ. :confused:
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
19,774
0
The beer is ALWAYS cold.

Might be a tough swim for sure.
 

TexKDX

~SPONSOR~
Aug 8, 1999
747
0
Wayne -

Glad to see you got your brake situation tamed. One note though that may help you in the future - about adjusting your brake actuating rod after installing new pads. Changing the pads has no effect per se on the placement of the rod. The hydro system is self adjusting, in that additional fluid is drawn from the reservoir as the pads wear, keeping the pressure the same and the placement of the piston in the master cylinder the same, assuming it is allowed to return to its fully extended position (see next paragraph). When you install the new pads and push the slave (caliper) piston back in, all you do is force some fluid back up into the reservoir.

This is not to say that adjusting the rod could not have some positive effect on the process; sometimes the rod or lever in the case of the clutch or front brake can be adjusted in such a fashion that one of the holes in the master cylinder is blocked by the piston. This does not allow the system to suck fluid in correctly and it becomes appearent when bleeding where you are trying to pass a (relatively) large amount of fluid in a small amount of time.

All this said, I still recommend you take Patman up on his barbecue offer. One thing I learned from living in Texas - if it can be pulled by a half ton pickup, then it isn't a REAL smoker. A REAL smoker takes at minimum a 3/4 ton, preferably a 1 ton with a diesel.

Just make sure he's cookin' beef or pork that day, not Armadillo ;)
 

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