Always taken the tube back up to the reservoir (use a tiewrap to hold it there) then its self perpetuating....bled my mates clutch slave cylinder on his tuono last week....had it done in 15 mins...
Um, I think it is a clever idea. I like the idea. I think the idea is clever. Not sure how else to put it.
Heh - yeah....I must say ive tried lots of other ways, pumps, syringes etc etc but ive not found a way that beats one spanner and a bit of tube - as I say if you take the tube back up to the reservoir then theres no way air can get back in and, it has to rise up the tube and is then expelled in the reservoir at that point....you can't really loose....the only issue ive found in the past is that twin systems (ie 2 calipers on the front) can take more time and depending where the bleed nipple is sometimes I have to unbolt them mid bleed and get the air to the top of the caliper...and obviously you need to bits of pipe going back two the reservoir (just makes life a bit easier).
I've always used a soft rubber tube sealed at the end and with a 10mm slit cut near the bottom to act as a one way valve, fluid is forced through the slit as the lever is depressed, but prevents air entering when lever released.
I think id have to see that setup to understand it....I just pull, the lever (with the spanner a quarter open on the nipple), while the leaver is closed, close the spanner, open the lever slowly - pulls the fluid down....
When I used to have a BMW GS, at one time it developed an air leak into the clutch slave cylinder, so that the clutch began to go spongy. After bleeding it was fine, but gradually went spongy again. Then the leak got worse, so it would go spongy more and more quickly. On the last long ride before I fitted a new slave cylinder (which is quite a big job on a GS, because of difficult access), I had to bleed the clutch every few miles. After you have bled it a dozen times in quick succession you start to get quite adept at doing it, I found.
Another tip is to make sure you bleed any air trapped at the lever end as well as bleeding from the caliper bleed nipples and clutch slave cylinder nipples. On my 999 it's easy as there are bleed screws in the master cylinders. On my 996 the brake is easy as there's a master cylinder bleed nipple but to do the clutch you have to slightly crack open the nut connecting the banjo joint to the master cylinder whilst holding a rag round it to mop up any fluid.
Saw mention on here a little while ago of tying the lever to the bar overnight to get rid of residual bubbles. Can't help wondering if it might, in time, get rid of more than residual bubbles???
