Bleeding my brakes...

The Northern Monkey

I'm bleeding the Elixirs on my Boardman tonight... I've got the kit, I've read the instructions and I've watched the videos....


What am I missing?

I foooooking hate bleeding brakes for some reason

Any tips?

ricardo_smooth

hopes and dreams tbh you'll get it wrong first time.....fact. Then you'll watch the video again and get it right! make sure you do wear gloves though as DOT fluid is an absolute C-UNIT!

allen.coulson

You're mising your bike mate because I just came round and nicked it!

*AL*

ricardo_smooth wrote:

hopes and dreams tbh you'll get it wrong first time.....fact. Then you'll watch the video again and get it right! make sure you do wear gloves though as DOT fluid is an absolute C-UNIT!

+pototo.

When you do get all the air out, remember to reset the pads, makes the world of difference.

The Northern Monkey

Ahhhhhhhhrrrgghhhhh fuckballs.

1st bleed.. fail.

2nd bleed... fail.

3rd bleed... went well, was just about to finish by replacing the lever bleed screw and... where is it? I have no fracking idea.

Turned the flat upside down and I can't find the fecker.

So now what? Where the hell do I get a lever bleed screw?

ricardo_smooth

Lbs or from sram

The Northern Monkey

Right.. well I gave up..

Went LBS and got a bleed screw.

Came back and tried 3 more times to bleed it.

I could do the cable and calliper fine, but having major issues at the lever.

It looks as though the cheap bleed kit I have doesn't seal properly at the lever, every time I add any sort of pressure, bubbles get in through the bleed hole.

Oh well.. I tried.

ricardo_smooth

are you taking the syringe off the caliper end once you've done that end?

you don't have to pull back hard on the caliper end to get rid of the bubbles. once you've pumped the lever a little bit to get rid of any air, you are pushing the fluid back in to the lever aren't you so that the bleed port is filled with fluid too aren't you before replacing the screw?

ricardo_smooth

oh and try a small tie wrap around the tube if you think that's the problem, will give it an extra bit of seal

The Northern Monkey

Yup, syringe is taken off the calliper once its done.

The seal between the syringe and the lever is non existent. Its as though the screw bit on the syringe isn't long enough for the calliper.
I could actually hear and see air being drawn into the system through the lever bleed port when lightly pulling back on the syringe to remove bubbles.

LBS have sorted it fine with the proper avid bleed kit and had no issues at all. ( i used a cheapo ebay bleed kit)

ricardo_smooth

shame as my cheapo ebay bleed kit always worked fine. might be worth contacting them for another one

ratty2k

I find it utterly bizarre that Avids are such a faff to set up! I had a set that were hit and miss in operation (Elixr sommats) and dumped them for Hope Tech M4/X2's
These are easy to bleed- no fancy kits, no bollox about degassing the fluid etc... And they work- all the time! which is nice.

Ride hard

ricardo_smooth wrote:

shame as my cheapo ebay bleed kit always worked fine. might be worth contacting them for another one

Same here. You should stick with it though TMN because the amount you will save on LBS costs is huge.

I don't know whether I had beginners luck but I've bled both back and front Avid Three's on my steed over the past few months with zero issues.

I'm not sure what videos you were using but this one is a blinder. 5 minutes and you're done... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZkEIrCBJ0[/url]