Hello,

Just replaced the pads on the bike and been through the bleed process on the rear brake as i have not been happy with the bite point for some time.

I have tried a few times today bleeding them but I cannot get the lever travel bite point as short as I would want.

The bite point is around 60% level travel with the grub screw rolled out and is firm once hitting it, (The front bites at around 40% and feels just right.)

There’s no air in the system, pistons have been pushed back, followed the process to the letter (and video) which Hope provide. Nothings sticking, rotor widths are the same, and caliper is centered within a cock hair.

Any ideas or experiences ?

Cheers

Did you wind the BPA all the way out prior to bleeding? And did you do the bit at the end of the bleed process where you point them down, tap them a bit and then refill?

After that its wind them all the way in then for mewind them out 3 clicks

Yeah,

In short, unsrewed BPC out to max > leveled the lever > topped fluid up,> slacked bleed nipple and did a few lever strokes to pump fluid through > tighten back up nipple, > topped up fluid > moved lever downfacing, > few lever pulls > raised lever > tapped hoses/top cap to push air to top > re-topped oil to brim, refitted.

End result… loads of lever travel still.

Done the above a few times also pushing pads back in too.

Cheers

Try bleeding from the caliper back.

Get a syringe and force fluid from the caliper to the lever (loosen caps!)

I always pressure bleed and have lovely sharp brakes.

I tried that too.. 🙂 – But I only put around 5ml of fluid in till it started to overflow the reservoir. (i had the top cap screws loose to allow the fluid to escape. )

Arg!!

Cheers

Try taking the wheel out and pump the lever. This forces the pistons out further than with the disk in place which takes up the slack in the lever.
Obviously you need to be careful that they extend equally and you don’t pump too much that the pistons come out to far or out completely.

Andy

Cheers Andy, will try that method too shortly.

No worries, hope it works.
I had to do it on my x2 race’s after a bleed as there is no bite point control like there is on the tech lever.

Let us know how you get on.

Andy

If it were me I would completely remove the reservoir cap, inject at least 20ml of fluid at the calliper and aspirate with a second syringe at the reservoir as you go. Just to be sure there is no air remaining.

By injecting only 5ml I don’t think you can be sure there’s no air in there.

I’ve probably spent more time than is healthy fettling my M4’s 🙁 A couple of things have become apparent. The lever will never feel “right” if the caliper & pads aren’t accurately centred & the caliper has to be completely parallel to the disc. Obvious you might think but a small amount of mis-alignment equates to a less than optimum lever.

Things to check

1 Are the caliper mounts face accurately ?
2 Is the caliper dead in line with the disc ? If not the disc will run through the caliper in a lazy “S” flexing as it does so.
3. Are the caliper & pads centralised over the disc. Pulling the lever shouldn’t move the disc from side to side.

D.

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice…

Well after a good few hours (too many on a Friday night! – but beer was in hand anyway which made it easier) I have finally got the brakes to my standard of feeling.

It took some work but I now have a very short pull to the biting point which just feels right.

After trying the standard method for what felt like the 5th or 6th time, i resorted to the pressure method.

Removed the caliper and applied 3 full pulls of the lever to get the pads to meet. (left the BPC fully unwind – I will come onto this shortly.)
Slacked off the top cap on the lever to allow for the escape of fluid in a level position and opened the bleed nipple while getting ready to force new fluid in.
Applied a fair bit of pressure and manged to get a decent amount of fluid into the system while allowing the excess to leave via the top cap – Then nipped up the top cap, applied more pressure and nipped up the M8 bolt.

Then manually pushed the pistons back into a even home position and refitted to the bike… pulled on the front brake to nip up the bolts and checked alignment which was spot on.

In hindsight, it would be best to screw IN a few turns the BPC screw as this would allow you to release a bit of pressure if needed.

This method was then repeated on the front brake.

End result is 2 levers with minimum pull and a very firm solid feel.

I have a slight amount of drag at the moment, nothing too great which does not prevent the wheel spinning but can just hear a slight ping. I will re-assess this after going out on a test ride to try and bed these new pads in hoping that once the surface has been scrubbed they may settle, if not its back to tweaking..

I know i have gone a bit OTT with the above detailing it, but hopefully it will help someone else.

Cheers

Rick

rickt – Member
Yeah,

In short, unsrewed BPC out to max > leveled the lever > topped fluid up,> slacked bleed nipple and did a few lever strokes to pump fluid through > tighten back up nipple, > topped up fluid > moved lever downfacing, > few lever pulls > raised lever > tapped hoses/top cap to push air to top > re-topped oil to brim, refitted.

End result… loads of lever travel still.

Done the above a few times also pushing pads back in too.

Nope, wrong. Watch the Hope video.
Slacken bleed nipple just enough > pull lever to the bar slowly and hold > tighten bleed nipple > let lever out
Keep repeating this until you see now air bubbles coming out and/or fresh brake fluid comes through showing you have flushed all the way through. You will need to top up the reservoir about every 3-4 pumps. If you let the fluid get to low the lever drags in air and you have to go back to square 1.

And you need to do the tapping thing before you set the levers back to horizontal as per the video

Davesport had called this right, you need to centre the pads.

^^ The pads were central before but i had a little too much lever pull for my liking.

The revised method i did above has got rid of this slack in the lever now.

Will see how they are once i nip out on a test run.

Cheers

Did you unscrew both adjusters to be fully out – so lever has maximum throw and travel?

You then made sure the pads were fully retracted and then did the bleed?

Sounds like something wasn’t quite right. A way to reduce your bite point further is to not retract your pistons – open the top cap up and then adjust the adjusters…the pads don’t move as far back so you then don’t need to retract the pads.

Do your bleed and then rebuild the lever. This should have a shorter travel before bite (as pads are closer to the rotor).

Cheers – see my post further up – I have got them set up perfect now by not fully pushing the pistons back and pressure bleeding.