Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Brakes

My front brake has been feeling a little mushy lately. The lever will almost contact the grip under moderately heavy braking. Triumph recommends changing the brake fluid every two years, and I'm getting close to that. I did a search here, and read through a lot of posts about bleeding brakes over the past couple of years, and have read about several people having problems bleeding their brakes.

I am not a mechanic, and I have never done anything with brakes before. The most complex thing I've done is removing the carbs and re-jetting, and I followed the detailed step-by-step instructions on Dinqua's page. I feel pretty good wading in and doing stuff as long as I'm following a set of instructions, but I don't want to have any doubts when it comes to the brakes. Is changing the brake fluid or bleeding the brakes something that I should be able to do safely, or would I be better off having the dealer take care of it? And are there some detailed instructions that I could follow for doing this? I definitely won't be trying it without some instructions that I feel comfortable following. (I don't have the Haynes manual yet, but will be buying it soon).

Thanks guys,

Will

It's not as bad as you think. To make it even easier, you could invest in SpeedBleeders (Brent has 'em).

Keep things clean and it should be a snap.

Check that your pads are still within spec. You should be able to eyeball your pads easy enough.

read up on the tips and such in those threads and you should be fine. A vacuum pump would make it real easy. First time I did mine, I rode around the block a few times starting REAL slow just to make sure they worked Got faster and faster till I trusted them. Just don't drip any fluid on the paint!

I never could master it. When I first got the bike I had one of those brain-fahrt moments and loosened the banjo bolt on the handlebar reservoir. (Don't tell anyone I did that. It's embarassing.) I had air bubbles in the line that I just couldn't get out. I bought a bleeder kit at the auto store, but it was cheap plastic and wouldn't even hold a vacuum. I finally took the bike into the shop and had them do it.

Cody

After reading all the tips in the old threads, I bled the fronts yesterday; used a vacuum pump and then did the bungee on the lever and the "tippy tap tap" drill this morning. I haven't ridden it yet, but the lever feels solid now.

One final question though: When I filled the reservoir to the point that the owners manual indicated was full (page 69), the fluid overflowed as soon as I replaced the diaphragm. Could have made a big mess, but I had placed rags all around it and cleaned it up quickly. I just sucked fluid out a little bit at a time until I reached the point that it didn't overflow. The bike was level on a jack; was I supposed to have it on the side stand to fill it to the full level?

Thanks for all the tips!

Will

The only thing that needs to be level is the resevoir. Find a bar position that does this. I fill mine until the fluid is about 3/4 way up the sight glass and I always have room for the diaphram.

Mine usually overflows a little, but I figure there's no air in there then

Cool. That's about where mine was when I could replace the diaphram and put on the cover.

Thanks!

Will