So far I’ve messed with a couple of Reverbs, shortening hoses with no bleed required and they worked fine.

Got another and needed to swap a LH lever for a RH. Even easier I think to myself as no hose cutting, just wind out to slow, unscrew lever, screw in new one.

Hmm, nope. Utterly non responsive with new one, despite no leakage. So off I go bleeding.

Bloody hell! People moan about Avid brake bleeding, but I always found that easy.

Followed the Reverb bleed guide which only covers the lever end. Did it carefully, but result was poor. Also the mineral oil leaks all over the place out of the syringe. Dot fluid when doing brakes doesn’t do that!

So I wonder why they don’t do both ends like brakes. Found pinkbike’s guide and following that – http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Bleed-RockShox-Reverb-Remote-Lines.html

Result – can’t even lower the seat.

Try again, and again, and one more time. Finally got it lowering and pops up again but it’s no where near as fast as original even when wound to fast. And still bloody oil leaking out of the syringe every time making a right mess. That’s having tried several syringes as I have a number of bleed kits.

Only thing I didn’t do was repeated steps the pinkbike guide says about pumping the lever a number of times while pressuring for good measure etc. Could this be it?

The official guide says nothing about this other than a final step to give it a good push on the syringe to extend the lever fully, which I did.

I’ve only ever followed the Rockshox video on you tube and the bleed’s been successful every time. Can’t say I’ve experienced leaky seringes either. Always thought reverbs were one of the easiest things to bleed, and only takes 5 minsutes.

Edit: I always (or at least nearly always) add a seringe both ends (as per RS video) finishing with seringe at remote end only

Bit of a rookie when it comes to bleeding reverbs and I’m sure an expert will be along shortly!

Either way I find that you need to pull a good suction on the syringe and hold it for a while to draw the sneaky air out…it bloody hides everywhere. Just when you think no more air is coming out give everything a tap and more bloody bubbles!

Stupid question.. Are you using the proper shimano, screw in bleed syringes?
I’ve never had them leak.
Anyway, make sure the lever (and syringe) is higher than the seatpost syringe and the lever is parallel with the floor. Start with the seat post syringe 2/3 full and the lever 1/3. Push the fluid from the seat end up to the lever, try to very gently pull on the lever syringe at the same time.
Once the lever syringe is 2/3 full reverse what you’ve just done. Do this a few times.
With the lever 2/3 full disconnect the seat and clean any dribbles!
Wind speed adjuster out to full speed. With pressure on the syringe, pump the lever 10 times. Don’t touch the lever without pressure on the syringe!
Wind the speed to full slow, repeat pressure/pump. Repeat between fast and slow a good few times.
Finish with the lever on full speed return, push the syringe once or twice just to fully fill the system.
Disconnect, clean up, go ride, be happy!!!

That’s how I do it and it seems to work. I did have one reverb that seemed to need attention every few weeks. Got that replaced under warranty and all is well with the new one

There are the “proper” SRAM/Rockshox bleed syringes. In my opinion they’re crap. Put any pressure on them and while oil goes into the system it also leaks out of the connecting hose in various places. Got two sets of official Reverb bleed kit, four syringes and all of them have done this.

Originally I followed the Rockshox bleed guide instructions and that only bleeds at the lever end, without connecting at the seat.

MartynS – followed pretty much what you’ve said as it’s basically the Pinkbike guide, except the pump lever multiple times with pressure on the syringe and repeat set to slow/fast. I skipped that skim reading thinking the last steps were the same as the Rockshox guide, i.e. I just put pressure on the syringe until the lever extended fully.

It could be the last step is the critical bit.

I strongly suspect there was no air in the system in the first place. Bleeding didn’t reveal much in bubbles. It’s just I didn’t pressurise it properly when swapping the levers or on subsequent bleed attempts.

Still think the syringes are crap though. I don’t get the leaking problem with the official Avid bleed syringes and yet they’re much the same (or maybe dot fluid viscosity means it’s less likely to leak through small gaps or something).

There is a new designed reverb bleed syringe
You mention in your posted about mineral oil he reverb won’t wirk with mineral oil.

My only attempt at a reverb bleed ended with a lifetime hatred of the things. And I’ve done my time bleeding avid brakes and come out the other end. Onzadog had it right here

plecostomus – Member
You mention in your posted about mineral oil he reverb won’t wirk with mineral oil.

Sorry, I meant the official Reverb oil bottle stuff I’m using. Yeah, it’s 2.5wt suspension oil. Synthetic stuff I think.

Just said mineral to distinguish it from nasty dot stuff, but yeah the proper stuff.

Oh,
I was wrong.. Finish with the lever on full slow.
So actuate the lever with pressure on the syringe a good few times. Then gently pump the syringe a few times to make sure theres as much fluid in the system as possible. Then unscrew syringe and pop the tiny screw back in

As for the syringes leaking.. I’m surprised. Are all the bits tight? I think it’d be easy to slightly unscrew the locking collar bits on the tube… That might make it leak.

Not had a problem with leaky syringes either, I’ve got the epic bleed kit, out of curiosity have you rebuilt it with the original lever, just a thought if you’re having trouble with the speed of return and the syringes leaking could the new lever have a blockage?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cable-operated-reverb

New lever is actually off a knackered Reverb (unrelated internal issue / needs service), which was working fine as far as the hydraulics are concerned.

I even tried putting the original back on and same issue.

The syringe leaks seem to come out of the ends of the plastic hose. Fully tightened both ends. As I say, all 4 that I’ve got, all official Reverb bleed kit syringes, all leak. Generally when I use full pressure to extend the lever. I go through loads of kitchen towel soaking the stuff up.

Another thing I notice is on creating a vacuum to bleed the bubbles out, sometimes there’s a sudden flood of bubbles which seem to come from the plastic hose join, like it’s letting air in. Doesn’t go into the system, but creates a large air chamber in the syringe.

As I mentioned, Avid bleed kits, very similar except for the hose clip, and dot fluid doing brakes… no leaks.