Bleed Brakes = BAD

[Killer2600]

I had to replace the fork seals on my bike recently and since I have anti-dive forks I decided to disconnect the calipers and anti-dive brake lines rather than keep the forks attached to the bike and do it the hard way.

Well the seal replacement when well as did reassembly but when I went about bleeding the brakes, at first the fluid didn't want to flow down so I undid the master cylinder cap and went about the bleeding. Well long story short after getting a ton of air out and going over each bleeder many times I thought I was done so I took it on a test ride and the brakes were terrible.

Is there a trick, technique, or magic to bleeding the front brakes with anti-dive forks? I've bleed brakes before (on cars) and I when through a pint of DOT 4 only to have much sheetier brakes than before I did the fork work.

[chef1366]

You might have air bubbles in the M/C. Take off your M/C cap and brake lever and push the piston in with a phillip head screwdriver and see if any bubbles rise to the surface.

Otherwise I don't know squat about anti-dive except alot of people here put in progressive fork springs and just bypass them.

[Killer2600]

You might have air bubbles in the M/C. Take off your M/C cap and brake lever and push the piston in with a phillip head screwdriver and see if any bubbles rise to the surface.

Otherwise I don't know squat about anti-dive except alot of people here put in progressive fork springs and just bypass them.

Might have to try that, a family member (a bike mechanic) bleed them for me when I first got the bike and commented on how they are a pain in the ass with the anti-dive and he's never actually done one before but he got them bleed good with no special tools and without having to do pushing the piston with philips thing. I know it's simpler without anti-dive but personally I'd rather keep them. I guess I'll go through the whole system again tomorrow, I'll likely use some DOT 3 I have alot of just incase my efforts end up futile.

[Unclesol]

Chef is right. Lose the anti-dive. It doesn't actually work, and if you want to get the breakes bled out before you lose your mind, this is the simplest way.
Otherwise, you might want to try a vacuum bleeding unit to actually suck the fluid from the top to the bottom. The problem with the loop in the line between the caliper and the anti-dive unit is overcome with this method.
Good luck...

[salty_monk]

I don't know if this will work for you but you might want to try cable tieing the lever back to the bars & leaving it for a couple of days.... I'm not sure how that circuit is shaped but it's worked for me on difficult systems before, the air travels up to the top (but you have to keep pressure on the lever or footbrake if doing it with a car....)

Dan

[koolaid_kid]

To bleed a bike with antilock is not that much different from bleeding without antilock. Start by bleeding the fitting the furthest from the master cylinder. That would be the left caliper. Then the left antidive. Then the right caliper, followed by the right antidive. I have done this multiple times with success at 100%.

[DimitriT]

Bleeding brakes is a pain. If you've gotten alot of the air out already you probably have a bubble stuck in the caliper or the anti-dive. Another place they sit is in the banjos.

I've never used the anti-dive so I'll defer there.

To get the caliper bled, I first start by pushing the piston back in as far as it will go and holding it in with a C clamp. Then I pick up the caliper and rotate it around a few times while tapping it with the butt of a screwdriver. When you stop, the bleeder valve should be at the highest point. Now apply brake pressure (using a bungy or a clamp or something), attach your hose to the bleeder and turn it just enough to fill the hose a few inches. Hopefully any bubbles will exit right there. Tighten the bleeder back up and clean the excess fluid.

To bleed the banjos apply brake pressure and loosen the banjo just enough for the brake lever to drop. Tighten the banjo back up when your done and clean up.

[denydog]

I don't think the anti-dive causes that much of a problem to the bleeding procedure. It just adds two bleeder valves, and they are at a high point after the calipers anyway.

According to my Suzuki shop manual, the bleeding sequence is left anti-dive, left caliper, right anti-dive , right caliper.

To tell the truth, I don't think the sequence matters that much, since I always end up going around and around about eight times anyway