Cant get all the air out of my front brakes
 

My front brakes on my 13 have been margianal ever since i bought the bike. Ive vacuum bled them and back bled them and they still have air and horrible lever. At the little brown jug last weekend i was blowing turns and yesterday i passed a guy, grabbed a handfull of throttle and pulled in the front lever only to not be able to release the throttle and i waded up in a tree. Now im laid up with a severly swollen knee and ankle. Asteriks braces saved my knee too. I read about the rmz banjo swap and a rmz lever will swap too for better feel. Is there anything else i can do? Sintered pads sound like a option too. I spent one night pushing the caliper in the tickling the lever on the master cylinder with the handle bars turned left to get it above the brake line, air just kept coming out, looked like carbonation from a soda sometimes. Im going to try and race the national enduro this weekend if my leg heals but not if my brakes are this shitty. Any ideas of suggestions would be awesome. Thanks guys

My 13 was pretty bad too. They would fade almost completely out on long descents. I followed the advice here and did a crf banjo and force bled it from the bottom. Then I put a wire tie on the lever keeping it pulled in over night. I tried to keep the master as high as possible. It felt pretty good after that on the next ride, but it must have had some air trapped in it because the next ride I went on a few days later it felt great. Really firm and hardly any fade. I also tapped the caliper assembly while bleeding with a rubber mallet to try to knock any bubbles free.

Hope there is some info in there that can help. Good luck!

Hey Andy. Brad here. Mine does have a better feel after I replaced the banjos with plain ones. Sometimes I have better success bleeding these things with a wire tie holding in lever maybe 10mm while back filling.

Ok, those things make sense. Ill see if they help. Aggrivating as hell. Thanks guys!

Try filling your mc with fluid,keep the cap loose and zip-tie your lever closed as if your were applying the brake,leave it over night like that.Sounds kooky but it does work.

Also, the master cylinder needs to be the highest point when you let it sit overnight. No loop in the brake hose.

Use a syringe without a needle (30ml or something) mount it on a hose, connected to the bleedscrew on caliper. Open it up, open the pump so it flows.

Press 30ml thru the system, a full syringe, and close the bleedscrew. Then bleed normal. Should take you 4-5sec before its full pressure.

2009 ec
 

i to have been going round in circles bleeding.. with new seals top & bottom & hose,
iv been squeezing, pumping, vacing, pushing,taping,elevating,dangling,rotating & pushing the pistons independently & only see odd occasional bubbles , some tinny or regular size ..but only getting the leaver to be firm... & not hard... eg two fingers will still pull to my knuckles :confused: have been over a month on this dilemma :(..nissin calliper + lever

Time for a new Master Cylinder?

are u sure its hydraulic fault?if its an old set of pads in it check for cracks,or lifting between backing plate and pad material that could flex as that can caus a spongy feel even when bled perfect.a sticking piston in caliper or also a sticky or bent caliper slide (crash damage?)can cause poor feel or excess travel, as can a slightly warped disc,if its too badly warped you usually get a pulsing feel,check by spinning the front wheel and taking note of wether the disc is spreading the pads apart more than seems reasonable.bleeding u must have a little free play on the lever stop screw before the master starts to activate.sorry if uv checked this stuff already.Important-when bleeding only open the bleed screw as LITTLE as necessary for fluid to just flow,this gives u more forcing pressure(stiffer feel when squeezing lever)as the fluid has to travel faster thru a smaller passage.you can also take the caliper off and rotate it around slowly in all directions while bleeding,but make sure u use old pads etc to stop the pistons marching out when u pump lever,try and take all bends out of line,have caliper as low as poss,master as high.try slow and fast squeeze pressure(cover open cylinder for fast).Important-close the bleed screw during EACH lever compression AS fluid is flowing out!with bleed screw closed,then release fully and wait a few seconds to allow fluid to draw b4 repeating.ie.open,squeeze,shut near end of stroke,release,repeat.if ur screaming at ur screen "i have done all this f$#!er" im sorry ok?,i didn't know! good luck.you can also pump the lever a few times to try and build some pressure,then still holding lever pressure on,open bleed screw quickly and close again BEFORE lever bottoms out,repeat.Also with master sealed and filled,remove from handlebars and invert/rotate as high as u can for a few minutes.any air in lines or banjo should rise into master,then bleed at caliper again