they bleed so fast with 2 poeple... have one guy down on the bleeder, 1 guy on the lever... pump 4 or 5 times hold the lever in, crack open the bleeder (wiht hose running into fluid) then close it, release the lever and pump again, and repeat, take about 3 - 5 min to bleed them out...

 

I use the vac from HF to change the brake fluid. Works great and fast.

 

Here is an old school trick I learned from my Grandfather,,Put a clear line on an oil can squirter ,Fill with brake fluid and install on the bleeder,,Fill from the bottom up,,,Pushes all air out,,I have been using the method for 40+ years and it works great,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,

 

This is a neat idea, and it does work. When I changed bars, and had to bleed my new brake line, I just treated her like an old high school fling....pump and dump baby! Even got the wife involved in it, which she loves. She likes to be involved with the things I love to do. But all the ideas in this thread are good ways to get the job done.

 

Another tip is to clean around your caliper pistons.

 

I tried this tying the lever down when I rebuilt my front brake system and it did not work por caca! Thinking back on how the master cylinder works, I realized that with the lever fully pulled, the piston is fully bottomed out on the pressure stroke and the holes in the bottom of the reservoir are blocked so how can the air get back to the reservoir to bleed out???

I tried the tie down trick, vacuum bleeding, and every other trick I could find but what I did that finally worked was to bleed the reservoir by holding my finger over the line hole and pumping until there was no air coming out, then connected the line with new banjo washers and bled the line by pinching the caliper end between my thumb and forefinger until there was no air coming out, reconnecting it with new banjo washers, then finally bleeding the caliper by opening and closing the bleeder valve. Keep the fluid off of your paint. I also learned that DOT 5 fluid will collect a lot of microscopic air bubbles suspended in the fluid and it may need to set undisturbed for awhile to allow all of the air to collect in larger bubbles before you can bleed it all out and I think this is what is happening when you tie down the handle. I observed that you see the air bubbles in the reservoir when you release the lever, not when you pull it...

I am kinda new with motorcycle maintenance, but I have bled a lot of small airplane brake systems and they are the same...in fact, the part number for the rear master cylinder on my '01 SG crosses over to Cessna and Piper...(I thought that thing looked familiar!)

 

Me, in general...

1. Drain old fluid to remove water/contaminants. DOT5 has water at the bottom; others have water throughout.
2. Russell speed bleeders, front and rear, with hose and catch-can.
3. Lots of fluid, keeping reservoir topped off.
4. Bleeder screw for rear brake is already the highest point of the system.
5. Front caliper gets bled while it is dismounted from the fork slider: a, everything clean and pistons pushed in completely; b, block of wood between pads; c, caliper held in hand, manipulated to guide bubbles toward the bleeder screw.

 

No, it works on the front because the line is straight up.
One note you do not want the brake pulled all the way in. This covers the feed hole and no place for the air to go.
Yea on the mighty vacuum, never go back to pumping.

 

when I put on my apes I was really nervous about bleeding the brake. I picked up a bleeder kit for a few dollars at an auto part store followed the directions of the back of the package and it worked first time, I was so relieved!

 

I like using my Mighty Vac Hand Pump. It's fast, efficient and I don't have to wait overnight. It only takes minutes to do.