FRONT BRAKE FIX

[Paul]

I had recently re-built my front and rear brakes ,everything new ,the rear brakes bled and work 100 % . The front brakes after countless hrs of trying to get them bled properly would just be spongy and could pull the lever all the way to the handle bar .I live in Calgary and went to a place called Green line hose where they made me a new set of hoses , I removed the outer rubber covers etc from the old ones ,the new ones look original except the colour of the banjo .I hooked up the hoses filled the reservoir and within one hour ,bingo ,100 % good brakes .
This tells me that overtime the old hoses must deteriorate and get weak and will expand under pressure ,so for all having trouble getting your front brakes to work properly just change your original front brake lines ,atleast it worked for me .
Thx ,Paul

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Glad that it worked out for you Paul.
I had the same issue years ago and went with the stainless lines and eliminated the splitter. Problem solved.

[oilheadron]

That splitter can be a bitch to bleed, that's for sure. I took mine loose and turned one end up and that helped.

[Don]

I had the same issue years ago and went with the stainless lines and eliminated the splitter. Problem solved.

I've had the Spiegler lines for years and when properly bled, they are great . . . . but getting them bled with the splitter in there was really, really tough . . . . even using a miti-vac

I recently changed to the TRAC front end and my old lines no longer fit. I bought a pair of new Spiegler lines from Tims and eliminated the splitter and *presto* - Instant brakes! Unless you're a purist, I see no need for using the splitter at all. One less hose, two less connections and no place for those pesky air bubbles to hide

Don

[EMS]

I rebuilt the front calipers on my '81 on Saturday. As I was in there, I installed steel braided brake lines. The whole bleeding job took me 10 minutes
I believe the key issues are:

1. Properly clean the master cylinder. Fill with fluid, block the outlet and pump until it builds pressure.
2. Apply "suction" to the calipers. Attach a hose to the bleed screws and draw air out. (I use a large syringe-type tool) Close bleed screws and pump brake.
3. Repeat until fluid/air comes out of bleed screw.
4. Finish bleeding

I rode the bike yesterday for 320 miles and the front brakes worked fantastic.

[Don]

Even using a vacuum device and wrapping the bleed screws with teflon tape, it can still be really tough to get all the air out of the splitter with everything installed on the bike - The air bubbles don't like to be pulled downward . . . . they keep trying to rise and who knows what's happening inside the splitter

One suggestion that seems to work is to use a board to lay out the lines horizontally - Unbolt the calipers and the splitter and lay everything on the board at the same elevation as the master cylinder - That way you're not trying to pull the air bubbles down through 3 or 4 feet of tubing . . . . plus the splitter

Don