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I bashed a fallen branch on a night ride the other day and the lever within 2 pulls was soft to the bar. I came to fix this lunchtime but no joy, which is a bugger as it's a gorgeous day here and some mates are off riding tonight.
It looked like the nut which tightens on the connector from hose to calliper had received a bump which had loosened it and that's where the liquid had leaked from. So tightened that up and I've re-bled the lever, pumping through loads of fluid until no sign of air bubbles.
with everything back together the lever still pulls to bars but no sign of new liquid escaping....so is it just still air (I did about 6 reservoirs full through) or is a seal blown?
Bleed it from the caliper up to the lever? That way the bubbles are furced to move with the flow of fluid, rather than against it.
Ok but I managed last time to do it ok the other way (as per hope video) but I'm getting no feel in lever at all.
Doing it caliper to brake do you just let all the fluid drip down onto the levers...seems very messy!
Definitely not a bleeding problem (well it is but you know what I mean). Is there a seal which could have blown in the calliper which stops the pressure building up enough to close the pads onto the disk and yet not actually leak fluid?
The fluid's almost incompressible, so it must be escaping somewhere! Keep bleeding until you see where... BTW I get a better bleed on my Mono Mini's by having the pistons part way out of their bores i.e. not pushed ALL the way back.
Ok just had one last try at this - getting very frustrated now!
Bled it with absolutely no bubbles and quite a bit of fluid pushed through. Lock off bleed nipple. Rolled on diaphragm and screwed on reservoir top. wheel is out so have a perfectly fitting bit of wood which stops the pistons closing any more than the just in-a-bit-from-the-calliper-body position they started in.
Pull lever and it goes straight to the bars - arrgghh
No leaks from lever, cable (braided) or calliper that I can see. WTF is going on!
Have you damaged the hose so it is expanding when you pull the lever (rather than being rigid and "holding the pressure in")?
When you banged something, did you bash the caliper or the lever?
If the lever, sounds like you have a master cylinder problem (pushrod??)
As a last resort try swapping lever or caliper with the rear and see which one the problem follows (involves much bleeding and is a pain in the bum).
Not seen it occur on Hopes, but old Hayes suffered from the primary seal in the master cylinder getting a hole chopped out of it if the lever took a big hit, gave similar symptoms to yours.
Pretty sure it didn't hit the lever (it was dark but I'd have noticed that I think!)
There's no damage I can see on the hose either. All very strange.
Had a bit more time looking at this today bed it again and taken out the wood (pad replacement) and there seems to be bubbles coming from one of the pistons as you squeeze the lever. Blown piston seal then?
Are they replaceable - seem to be looking at the expanded hope diagram.
Yep easily replaceable, you might find if you strip it that it's just some dirt under the seal. If there is no damage you might get away with just clean, refit and bleed.
Try here
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mobile/MobileSearchResults.aspx?Search=Hope+seal+kit&x=0&y=0
Thanks for that. I'll try the strip and re-bleed and then order kit if that doesn't work.
Difficult to see which kit is right for X2 caliper on that CRC link, where as it seems a specific line on this one
[url= http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/219/hbspc41/hope-brake-caliper-seal-kit-complete.html ]X2 caliper seal kit[/url]
Is it just standard across all hope 2 piston clalipers if I order from CRC or wiggle?
Also do I need a special tool for the bore cap?
Thanks!
You need this one for the x2, the mini trial has bigger pistons iirc
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/BasketAdd.aspx?AddToBasket=true&StockID=174562&IsMobile=true
Not sure if there's a home bodge bore cap tool though
If you send it to hope they'll probably fix it for free, they did my moto's which were waaaaay out of warranty for nowt not that long ago, Just print out the return form off the hope website, tick the [i]Just fix em[/i] box and post em off, did that with mine and they were back in three days fixed FOC, top service...
Thanks Khani - I think I might just do that,...although trying to print the form and it's asking for an FT user name....