Single person brake bleading kits experinces

mpgscott

mpgscott

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Has anyone any experience in using these single person brake bleeding kits such as oxfords https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Sin...sr=8-2&keywords=motorcycle+brake+bleeding+kit

I have bled the brakes before but im always worried i miss time it so using one of these one way valves maybe an option. I dont want to use a vacuum system in case i damage the ABS system so was thinking if its possible to open the nipple that little bit so as not to allow air back into the system as you release the lever.

Any thoughts??

Thanks
Mark
 
I have had a blead tube with a non return valve in it for years. I think it came from Halfords and im pretty sure they still sell them.
It does speed up brake bleading and make it a one man job, I used mine on my F650GS and that has ABS with no problems.
 
I have used a vacuum bleeder for years now. It also pulls the oil out the car engine and a whole load of other jobs as well.
 
+1 for the vacuum bleeder. ive had a mityvac for many years and its never given a problem.
i vac out the fluid reservoir first then top it up with fresh fluid then just remember to not let the reservoir run dry as you bleed the brakes through.
works with abs modules no problem.:cool:
 
+1 for the Halfords One-Man brake bleeding kit - costs about £8 and does the job without any mess.

The problem with just using a bleed tube and jar of fluid without having the one way valve is operating the brake lever while closing the calliper bleed nipple - usually a two-man operation or, more likely, one man and his wife/girlfriend!
 
My experience with vacuum bleeding systems is that there can be a problem with the vacuum drawing air in via the bleed screw threads. I think the majority is probably drawn straight out into the vacuum pipe, but I'm never sure and it's frustrating when I'm looking for a bubble free flow in the bleed pipe. I've tried sealing the outside of the thread with plasticine but the air still gets in. Air has less mass than the brake fluid and is therefore more easily moved by the vacuum.
Sealey do a pressurised device which one connects to the reservoir via a dummy cap. It pushes the fresh fluid into the reservoir when the bleed screw is opened. It's aimed at car owners as the advertising blurb describes connecting to the reservoir and bleeding at each wheel without the need to have someone sitting in the car and operating the pedal. It looks adaptable to motorcycles but one would need to check the sizes of reservoir cap available.
I'm thinking about it but with three bikes I'd need at least five different reservoir caps.
An alternative is to fit Stahlbus speed bleeders to each calliper, but at £20ish each, it works out expensive for a once every two year task. Much better to enlist a friend to help on a knock for knock basis.
Alan R
 
Alan R said:
My experience with vacuum bleeding systems is that there can be a problem with the vacuum drawing air in via the bleed screw threads. I think the majority is probably drawn straight out into the vacuum pipe, but I'm never sure and it's frustrating when I'm looking for a bubble free flow in the bleed pipe. I've tried sealing the outside of the thread with plasticine but the air still gets in. Air has less mass than the brake fluid and is therefore more easily moved by the vacuum.
Sealey do a pressurised device which one connects to the reservoir via a dummy cap. It pushes the fresh fluid into the reservoir when the bleed screw is opened. It's aimed at car owners as the advertising blurb describes connecting to the reservoir and bleeding at each wheel without the need to have someone sitting in the car and operating the pedal. It looks adaptable to motorcycles but one would need to check the sizes of reservoir cap available.
I'm thinking about it but with three bikes I'd need at least five different reservoir caps.
An alternative is to fit Stahlbus speed bleeders to each calliper, but at £20ish each, it works out expensive for a once every two year task. Much better to enlist a friend to help on a knock for knock basis.
Alan R
Click to expand...
PTFE tape solves the vac pulling air.

The kit your on about is an expensive version of the easy bleed kit that you can get just about anywhere. The easy bleed works OK especially on cars when the caps are more universal. On a bike it rapidly turns into a PITA with all the variations of cap sizes. Great if you keep the same bike for a long time but not really worth the hassle if you swap them a lot.
 
AberdeenAngus said:
It's BLEED.......!
Click to expand...

Sorry spelling was never one of my strong points, in fact come to think of it im not sure i have a strong point :-)

Thanks for all the pointers folks, much appreciated and i will get that one from Halfords, does it have the one way valve on the unit on the link?

Ive used the Gunson eezi bleeder on the car in the past but like you say its the different caps that are required.

Thanks again
 
Does everyone remove their calipers in order to get the pistons fully retracted to clear most of the old fluid or do you leave them on the bike and bleed against the discs??
 
It seems strange that years ago, with basic brake & clutch fluid, nobody ever seemed to have a fluid change, unless there was an airlock.

Now we have synthetic fluid and are told by BMW it must be changed at two year intervals.

A few years ago, when I visited the Castrol research centre just outside Reading, we had a long discussion about this topic.

A driver was involved in a serious personal injury collision and said his brakes had failed. Completing the boiling point tests on the fluid was interesting. The older fluid from the car certainly had a lower BP than he new test sample, but you would really have to be using the brakes hard to suffer failure. The best example given for excessive brake use likely to produce vapour lock, was a small car, towing a caravan round the Alps.

Bill
 
THe reason I replace brake and clutch fluid on a yearly basis is corrosion inside the system. The boiling point of wont change by much with a small percentage
of water in the system but the insides of the calipers and master cylinder will suffer.
One other point I will make having been on the end of a catastrofic failure, is brake pipe life. I had a raher nice Z750 Turbo that was about ten years
old when I bought it. It was a stunning bike until the front brake failed due to the inside of the brake lines falling apart and blocking the master cylinder.
It wasnt just slowly worse brakes it was instant no brakes.
Hence I replace brake fluid once a year and brake lines every five years.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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