Dear Motorbrick Forum, I Never Thought it Would Happen to Me - Hard Brakes

[2000rsv]

Dear Motobrick Forum,

I heard this was a way to make my brakes hard, but it had never happened for me - until now.

Vacuum bleed the front brakes of my '86 K75C after replacing the MC to steering stem hose (elongated hose to allow risers).  Ran a bottle and a half of fluid (the big bottles) with a vacuum bleeder and still had air in the lines.  Needed to step away from the bike since I was getting frustrated.  But before I walked away, I tied the brake lever to the grip. 

Approximately 24 hours later, it is like a 16 y.o. boy in a whore house.

Check the valves and get this bike off the lift.  The other cycles need some love.

J

[mac]

I hate vacuum bleeders because they can tend to suck air in from the bleed nipple, making you think you're pulling air out of your brake lines, when in fact the brake lines are fully bled. My mityvac is buried somewhere and now only comes out for vacuum tests.

I've used pressure bleeders at a commercial garage, they're great. No issues with pulling air into your bleed tube, WYSIWYG. Added bonus: they keep the reservoir full for you as you go, preventing the "I'm a f*cking dolt" moment when your reservoir goes dry and you suddenly start sucking air into your brand new brake fluid.

I don't do enough brake jobs to justify buying/making a pressure bleeder, so I just go with the pump-and-turn method (aka the two-man method when working on cages). Piss simple, and it works!  One theoretical down side to the pump-the-brakes method: while bleeding, you are using the full travel of the master cylinder, which pretty much never happens otherwise, and I've heard people suggest that this may lead to damage of the seals in the master cylinder as they move outside the range that's been honed from normal use. I've never had a problem yet.

[2000rsv]

When I use the vacuum bleeder, I surround the nipple with regular bearing grease to prevent air from leaking in.

Never used a pressure bleeder.  Need to do some checking on this.

BTW, I use the vacuum bleeder from HF.  Works nicely - normally.  Has a bottle that sits in the MC and keeps it full.

[cy7878]

I found R/C grade fuel tubing fits perfect around the bleeding nipple.  I now use the vacuum bleeder hooked up to a 32 oz R/C airplane fuel tank that holds more than enough drained fluid.  I still apply both vacuum and use the master cylinder.  Makes the job much faster.