Bleeding Front Brakes

[Pebbles]

I have just fitted Gen Mar Risers to my Sprint ST, they came with a new front brake hose, which I have also fitted. I was just wondering about the sequence to bleed front brakes. Do I bleed left side first ( furthest from master cylinder) or right side or does it not matter. also is it a similar process to a car ie. open bleed valve squeeze brake lever fully home, hold brake lever in until bleed valve tightened before releasing brake lever. Cheers for any advice given.

Peter.

[Kngelv]

You have the right sequence. I use a mity-vac to bleed brakes on my bike. It will save you from squeezing the brake lever fifty or so times. I use the Mity-Vac till I clear all the old fluid out. I then squeeze the lever and crack open the bleed screw a few times and all is well.

James

[Swampy]

A good tip here to save you bleeding the brakes for ages if you do not have an automatic bleeder device is to bleed the master cylinder first. Squeeze the lever, open the banjo bolt slightly at the master cylinder(Plenty of rags underneath though), close and release as you would the bleed nipples normally - It just takes a couple of pumps but clears air from the master cylinder much more quickly. Then bleed the brakes as normal. Tying or bungeeing the lever back to the bar for a few hours afterwards helps push any remnants of air into the calipers, then a couple more bleeds gets you a nice firm lever.

[rodneybrown]

I really like having speed bleeders in the calipers. Still use the MityVac on big jobs but they make a quick touch up easy.

Also, if you get a bit of brake fluid on any the black plastic and it leaves a white spot, you can use acetone to remove it. Just be careful, a little goes a long way.

[Pebbles]

Cheers Guys.

I accomplished the task over the weekend, no major problems and the bleeding seemed to go without a hitch, once i replaced all the banjo crush washers for new ones ( didn't get any with the new brake line though) had to buy these as seperate items.

Been out for a spin and the brakes are better than before, with slightly less travel back towards the throttle grip.

Also like the Bar Risers takes a bit more weight off my wrists without affecting the handling.

Cheers peter.