Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Where are you?

I’m up north near Manchester. I’ve tried connecting a long tube to the bleed valve and hooking to the ceiling and leaving but no better.
I just tried to push the fluid from the bleed valve up using a large stringe but it just pissed out of the syringe under pressure.

I don’t know what else to try?

Sounds like an air bubble. If you've got a syringe and hose....

Make sure the reservoir is full at the lever, pull the clutch in back to the bar and secure it with a rubber band. Then open the bleed nipple at the slave cylinder and start sucking with the syringe. You'll get air and bubbles. Keep an eye on the reservoir and don't let it drop below minimum. You might need a couple of goes - close the nipple on the slave, while you empty the syringe and reset. Once you feel some line pressure, you should be able to bleed as normal.

Thanks, I’ll give that a go tomorrow. I’ve got a fluid vacuum pump thingy.
What I don’t understand is I’ll connect it up get some pressure open the bleed valve and bubbles fluid start to come out but if I close the valve they continue to come out but a bit slower?!
Have I rebuilt the slave cylinder incorrectly or is the bleed valve knackered or something else?

Have you tried replacing the bleed nipple? Maybe you’ve chewed the threads.

thanks. Yes, but I think I'll try and swap over to the new one again and see if it makes a difference.

Well, there's a chance if you put a 'new' one that was a bad thread or badly manufactured, that could be it rather than operator error.

My go-to is the 'vacuum bleed thingy' off Amazon, the one with a handle you squeeze having attached to the open bleed nipple. It sucks the fluid through and you just keep topping up until you see no more bubbled. Then, close the nipple, squeeze the lever a million times, and leave zip-tied closed for a while. This worked every time especially on tough to bleed rears.

looking at the bleed nipple closely I assume it seals into the slave cyclinder at the bottom? rounded end? but could be

Yes, that's what I have too but didn't try pumping the lever or zip tying it afterwards.

thanks for your help!

It relies on the threads to seal. It’s a quarter-turn so if it’s leaking when tightened don’t overtighten, look elsewhere.

Definitely worth swapping for a different nipple to failsafe.

Big shout out to Kriega. Not easy to get luggage for my bike, but I emailed their customer service to try to find a way to attach their US Drypack. A week of daily back and forth found the solution and they sent non-standard parts free of charge, with the pack arriving in 24 hours.

Really neat bag, waterproof, expandable, modular, quick to pop on and off. Excellent!

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Nice bike is nice
One day I'll own another mental bike

Nice old Guzzi spotted at work

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I'd quite like a newish V7 but they're outside my price range at the mo.

Sorry if you were closer I'd have popped over.

Are you sorted?

A bleed nipple seals by the mating of two surfaces, the bottom of the nipple and the caliper.

So the bubbles should not be coming from the line but I think from the seal of the tube on the nipple. Or via the threads. Usually I put a bit of PTFE tape on the thread so when drawing fluid, air can't get round the thread and reduce the vacuum.

The thread are not used to seal, as by their nature. To seal a thread you need to add a thread sealer of some nature. Hence my mention ofneeding PTFE tape to seal the thread of the nipple.

Sorry you’re right I didn’t explain it properly.

Sort of guessed what you meant, but thought clarity is better in case someone misunderstood.

Ok now can someone explain how these work
How is it any quicker? Or different from a bleed nipple.

Rhetorical?

Spring holds ball in seated position. Sucky sucky forces ball up and opens valve for fluid. Moment sucky sucky stops, ball is forced back by spring.

Relies on mechanical strength of spring (subject to failure).

Oh. The Le Mans reminded me I've forgot to post these.

Edit: not a Le Mans, but a Lario, sorry.

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Noice

You still have to turn the upper body of the nipple to give the ball bearing and spring space to move.

Seems an expensive way to be a one person bleed.

Yeah - they're self bleeding. I can see using them on a car when you're on you're own. Bit pointless on a bike.

Ohhhhh. Man that shit is cray. I’ll stay with seized-in-place 90’s tech.

Bit pointless on a car, still need a bit of tube to stop the fluid going everywhere.

@pdlouche complicating an easy system

Yeah, but with a hose and a catch can, you could undo one corner at a time and just pump and refill the reservoir. Not that I know anything about cars but you'd be stuck without someone to open and close the nipple, otherwise.