[LiononaLeash]

You heard me!

I've tried a zillion different ways to try to bleed my brake lines to get that nice rock solid feel at the brake lever. None of them worked to my complete satisfaction.

Here is my trick that I've been doing:


-Take the cover off of your brake fluid reservoir.

-Take off your right side(throttle side) caliper and press all the pistons all the way in. You will send any air bubble right up the line to the reservoir.

-Put the right side caliper back, you don't need to torque the mounting bolts to 28 lbs-ft yet as you are gonna take it off once more. Just tighten it mildy to get in in place.

-Now squeeze the brake lever a few times to take up the caliper travel so the pads are in contact the rotors. You are filling the line with pure brake fluid with no chance for air to get back in.

-Now undo the left side caliper(clutch lever side) and do the same. Press all the pistons in and it will send any bubbles accross the line and into the left side caliper(and most likely beyond it up towards the reservoir).

-place a piece of wood (plywood maybe?)in the left side caliper so the pistons can't come back out for the moment.

-Don't remount the left caliper yet.

-Now take off the right side caliper again and press in all the pistons again.

-Now remount both calipers... be a good boy/girl.... use a torque wrench at 28lbs-ft.

-squeeze the lever a number of times to refill both calipers with bubble free brake fluid.






If you don't see air bubbles come out of your system at the reservoir, you can call me a monkey!

Your brake lever will feel as solid as a anything. It gives an absolute feel of control for your brakes.

No mess, no spilling brake fluid. it takes about 15 minutes to do.

Now go do it!

If you have a two line system in paralell, it works even better.

My TLR calipers are hooked in series so I have to do this whole process.

Double check your torque spec for your bike's calipers... I just said 28 lbs-ft cuz that is what mine is.

[JeffL]

Thats awesome, I'll probably do it sunday.

[gmdboston]

I've been doing it that way for years, welcome to the '80s

[LiononaLeash]

Thanks smart guy!

[FireFly]

I knew I wasn't getting the desired result by bleeding the brakes.. Thanks, I'm gonna try this out.

[FireFly]

I gotta hold off on trying this out. According to my manual, I gotta replace the mounting bolts on the calipers with new ones. Gotta order some

[gmdboston]

no you don't. what bike and which bolts?

[FireFly]

04'F4i. The manual said when reinstalling the calipers to use new ones (the 2 bolts on the right and the 2 bolts on the left side that mount to the forks) and torque to them to 22 ft pounds. Is this Bullshit?? Do you think its an extra safety precaution, a way to make more money? Any advice from the suspension magician would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[gmdboston]

The stock Honda bolts have lock tight on them, the lawyers want you to use new ones so you have fresh lock tight on them. You can reuse the bolts indefinitly, just make sure they are tight, you don't need to torque them.

[a13x]

Originally posted by FireFly
04'F4i. The manual said when reinstalling the calipers to use new ones (the 2 bolts on the right and the 2 bolts on the left side that mount to the forks) and torque to them to 22 ft pounds. Is this Bullshit?? Do you think its an extra safety precaution, a way to make more money? Any advice from the suspension magician would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

You are also supposed to replace the gas cap everytime you fill up.

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by gmdboston
The stock Honda bolts have lock tight on them, the lawyers want you to use new ones so you have fresh lock tight on them. You can reuse the bolts indefinitly, just make sure they are tight, you don't need to torque them.

i know bikes are your business, but i think it is irresponsible to suggest that brake caliper bolts don't need to be torqued.
The ONLY instance in which i might agree is if you were using new loctite on the bolts, and were very familair with wrenching, enough to be able to approximate the torque by hand.

btw, i swing wrenches for a living, so i'm not some pencil pushing geek talking out his arse.