Fixed My Brakes

[Jim]

only cost me a right peg.

For those who know, i've had a wicked bracke fade issue my last 3 track days. rebuilt the master, replaced the master, replaced the fluid twice, and still nothing. Now I'm good to go...

Replaced the blue rotors, the stretched brake lines, boiled fluid, pinched caliper seals, and the worn our pads.

had 4 pinched seals, causing the pistons to not retract after braking. dragging pads caused the rotors to overheat (turned blue) and boiled the fluid.

new stock rotors were scrubbed in nicely with 60-grit sandpaper.
Goodridge superbike lines replaced with Goodridge -2 lines
Brembo fluid replaced with fresh fluid
calipers rebuilt.
new PF pads in 07 compound
Goodridge speed bleeders
new clear Brembo brake line hose for the cup --> master

bled the shit outta the system, but kept getting air out of the right caliper. Rode at Thursday practice and would crack the caliper bleeder after each session. still getting air pockets and a soft lever.

went out for a session in the wet, and had a lowside when I whacked the throttle out of T3 on the 1st lap. Picked up the bike and saw a massive air bubble in the brake reservoir hose. Rode back to the pits to push the air bubble to the reservoir cup. Now I'm back to 1 finger braking

still cracking the right caliper after sessions & getting small air bubbles, but the lever is much better now.

Thanks to those that helped me at the LAPS and BoMo days trying to get the braking issue sorted.

[Omahastylin16]

sounds like a lot of work

[The Snowman]

sounds like a lot of work

and a lot of $$$.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (HTC EVO "DROID" : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Sprint APA9292KT Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I can't wait to ride it

[CBR929RE]

I hate air bubbles. bleeding new brake lines is my least favorite thing to do. I can't wait to curse and start throwing shit when I swap my Brembo m/c over to the new bike. just thinking about it is pissing me off.

[Jim]

I hate air bubbles. bleeding new brake lines is my least favorite thing to do. I can't wait to curse and start throwing shit when I swap my Brembo m/c over to the new bike. just thinking about it is pissing me off.

by far, the worst is bleeding the calipers after a rebuild

[MotoFreak]

Soooooo, what you're saying is;

"One has to crash to get their brakes properly bled after buying a entire new braking system."

You should start putting a book together. Jimmy's Super Motorcycle Repair Manual.

[Kurlon]

Chris's suggestion for dirt bikes may be applicable here: Pop the offending caliper off, open the resivoir cap, and push the pistons on the problem caliper all the way in. Pump'em out, shove'em back in. That should hopefully force whatever air is left in there out. Plan B: Ziptie that lever right to the bar for a couple nights, then crack the resivoir and snap the lever a few times and hopefully that'll get the bastards out too.

[CBR929RE]

by far, the worst is bleeding the calipers after a rebuild

yeah beginning of the year I did new m/c, new lines and rebuilt the calipers. god that sucked.

[Jim]

ya, rebuilt the calipers on my street bike this winter & still crack the bleeders every couple hundred miles

[FireboltEric_MA]

you obviously suck at doing this then... I've never had a problem like you do w/ brakes....

[Billy]

Jim I know you got an older Gixxer but I've flushed the fluid a couple times to put in fresh brake fluid and couple months ago I installed new SS lines. Had no issues getting the bubbles out when I installed the SS lines.

[Billy]

Forgot to mention that the vacuum pump tool that I used to use on my CBR's calibers worked great. When I used it on the Gixxer's caliper's it didnt work for shit. Had to use the old school method of squeezing the brake lever, cracking open the bleeder, close bleeder, release brake lever, repeat.

[CBR929RE]

Forgot to mention that the vacuum pump tool that I used to use on my CBR's calibers worked great. When I used it on the Gixxer's caliper's it didnt work for shit. Had to use the old school method of squeezing the brake lever, cracking open the bleeder, close bleeder, release brake lever, repeat.

mityvac didn't work for shit on my Honda even after getting fluid coming through the lines. I suspect it might have been the speed bleeders acting against the pump.

[Billy]

mityvac didn't work for shit on my Honda even after getting fluid coming through the lines. I suspect it might have been the speed bleeders acting against the pump.

I had a 99 CBR 600 F4. I'm guessing the design back then worked with the tool. I know on my 06 Gixxer when you crack open the stock bleeder it allows air to come in through the threading so when you try to pump out the fluid, it just sucks in air instead of the brake fluid. Not sure if that's what you experienced.

[butcher bergs]

I found that the Mityvac works to get fluid to register, after that the pump, crack, close method works best in lieu of a power bleeder.

Jim, come talk to me when you have to do a brand new master cylinder on a passenger vehicle with ABS. THAT is a load of fun. Hour and a half just to bench bleed the master in my truck....nevermind having to hook up the lines then bleeding the rest of the system. Good times!

[Jim]

billy, this was for my 06 600, not the street bike. and the difference was the calipers. changing a master & lines doesnt take as much time to pressurize as if you opened up the calipers and took the pistons out.

bergs is right about the mitivac. they're a great tool to get you started, but the old school method is best for finalizing those last few air pockets. picked up a brake line hose from Steet & Comp and bled them in between sessions. the mitivac has that black attachment onto the bleeder, so you can't see if there's air coming out.

[Billy]

Gotcha. I could see the calipers giving you an issue. Good luck with the brakes!

[Kurlon]

For some reason I never have any luck with MityVac's or air powered bleeders, flicking levers and pushing lots of fluid through seems to work for me. I'm going to have to get a tune up on my bleeding techniques from a pro one of these days I guess.

[FireboltEric_MA]

I've gone as far as taking the whole system off the bike giving me an issue and hang them upside down and re-bleed them, then once again when installed. Always getting the pistons pushed back in to move the fluid.

It's quick enough to do and beats messing with them week after week.

I would think If you need to bleed any system after "x" rides/miles you have air getting in there someplace, They should be air tight systems. Air=Moisture=Bad JuJu.

I agree mityvac's are good to get it started, hand bleeding is best after that.

Either way you get it done, glad to hear it is fixed. Now you can build confidence instead of thinking "brakes" all the time. That's gotta suck.

[Jim]

Either way you get it done, glad to hear it is fixed. Now you can build confidence instead of thinking "brakes" all the time. That's gotta suck.

now i'll have to come up with a new excuse why i suck out there

[The Snowman]

You should start putting a book together. Jimmy's Super Motorcycle Repair Manual.

Bill, you got the title wrong, it should be Super Jimmy's Motorcycle Repair Manual.

[MotoFreak]

Bill, you got the title wrong, it should be Super Jimmy's Motorcycle Repair Manual.

Word, my b. Maybe he can help me with my fork issue, that'll be good for another chapter!

[The Snowman]

I'll play a "Jim card" here and ask "Why is this thread even in the Pit Area?" Shouldn't it be in the Bike Maintenance forum?

[MotoFreak]

I'll play a "Jim card" here and ask "Why is this thread even in the Pit Area?" Shouldn't it be in the Bike Maintenance forum?

Cause Jim's a racer!