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Not drugs, oil.
I've been using cheap medical ones from eBay so far, but oil (mineral oil, dot fluid, suspension fluid, reverb oil) all seem to cause the bung to expand. Not a frequent user (still talking oil here) and inevitably on their 2nd use try to draw oil out of the containers to have the plunger detach from the seal & much swearing to emanate from the bike room.
We're due a lengthy road trip next year where semi-regular brake bleeds, seatpost & fork services are likely. I'd like to avoid carrying shit-loads of single use syringes (because landfill).
Any recommendations of where to buy syringes which might last the distance? The official reverb ones seem to hold up quite well, so something with similar quality rubber/plastic. My google-foo is lacking.
I found the epic ones swell up just the same.
Problem is, they're designed to work with medicines, which are almost universally dissolved in water.
You can get glass ones, they're not cheap but they will last.
[edit: by not cheap, I meant £10 from ebay rather than pence, so it's not exactly expensive]
Can't help as mine are all cheap medical ones, but interested in seeing what's recommended.
I got a load of medical ones from somewhere - so cheap you only need to use them once, but I haven't had any do the expansion thing anyway. I'll look up where I got em.
Best thing to do is just make sure you don't leave the oil in after use - so immediately after use, clean out with plenty of soapy water, then rinse that out with clean water.
It's prolonged exposure to the oil that causes the swelling to get to the point that the syringes don't function correctly.
I used to do materials testing on various rubber materials for a company that developed inkjet inks. Some of the more potent inks & 'unsuitable' rubbers used to lead to comedy amounts of swelling.
I always get the syringes from work that are past their expiry date and use them. They're going to landfill anyway so I just make sure they get some use before they're binned.
(Had to switch to phone as cantget ebay on pooter )
This eBay seller - syringes for pennies
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/cheapchocomonmart/
The ones I got from Big Ride Racing for my Avid brakes are branded Medicina and have been fine. I wash them out every time though.
The dosing syringe you get with calpol are all plastic, but they only do 5ml and the tip won't be much use for a bleed...
I use ones like this that don't have a rubber bung, just use a tight fit to achieve a seal. I've had them sitting in my tool box for years and never wash them, still good.
Couldn't tell you where I actually bought mine from but a quick search should turn up something similar.
We have ones [s]supplied by NHS[/s] sourced ethically from mrs_oab's oversupplied stock. No matter what brand, they all seem to only do a couple of bleeds. mrs_oab has issues with some when using them for the intended purpose - hence the oversupply we are given as they expect a few duds it seems.
When finished, pull the plunger out, spray with ipa and wipe. Leave off and reassemble before use. Little dribble of oil or brake fluid (depending on what I'm doing) to relive before use.
How's about a [url= https://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-10111-FloTool-Mixmizer-Injector/dp/B000G72U0K ]"Mixmizer"[/url] fuel/oil mixing syringe?
You have a bike room ???? as in, a room just for bikes? you is posh innit!
I don't clean them or anything but if you pull the plunger back just a little when you finish it makes a big difference ime- just because they're stickiest when you first try and move the plunger, so if you can push it "in" that breaks the stick without pulling away from the rubber part.
That's really not very well explained, works though
Trailwagger- I live in Bristol. Storing bikes in the house is a necessity if I want to remain a bike owner.
North wind - I've tried pulling it back a little bit, storing the plunger and tube separately and cleaning to little avail. Maybe I need to be a bit more rigorous with the soap & water.
Thanks for the replies all. Will look at glass ones and miximiser. Typically the latter appears to be US only...
rondo101 - weird, I was about to post the same thread (and I'm in Bristol too, and store bikes in my house....).
The ones that came with my Reverb seem OK, having had 2.5wt oil in them. And I've reused them with 3wt oil to bleed a Charger Damper a few times.
For fork lowers, you dont need to inject with any pressure, so I just use a big syringe with the seal removed. Or multiple injections with a small 5mm syringe as suggested above.
And I switched to Shimano brakes on all our bikes recently, removing the DOT / syringe problem.
Where's your road trip? I recently spent a lot of time in the US without bleed kits and oil and had various Pike issues, I found most LBS's very helpful (but I know it feels good to be self sufficient).
+1 What Northwind said...
Yep, as the 2 guys above said. Noticed they can suddenly loosen up, so maybe sticky not swollen (.... ooh err)
Best thing to do is just make sure you don't leave the oil in after use - so immediately after use, clean out with plenty of soapy water, then rinse that out with clean water.
What Stumpy said. I give the rubber bung a wee skoosh with silicone before reassembly 😀
D.
I use the syringes that have an O ring instead of a bung. I replace the O ring with a nitrile one from a automotive supplier. No problems this way, no washing out. Just label them for mineral oil, brake fluid etc.
You have a bike room ???? as in, a room just for bikes? you is posh innit!
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Best thing to do is just make sure you don't leave the oil in after use - so immediately after use, clean out with plenty of soapy water, then rinse that out with clean water.
Ah, yes. I do that too.
That's one long road trip or some shit brakes.
I'm in the rinse after use camp.
^10-12 weeks in the alps. Depends your interpretation of "long".
Fox recommend 100 hour service intervals for lowers. So every 2 weeks, give or take a day. Pikes on my wife's bike with 50 hour service interval, so every week.
Hope brakes on mine which I hope not to have to do anything with other than change pads. My wife still uses shimano which seem to experience worse lever-to-bars moments the blacker the fluid. Expecting to need to flush them a few times.
Reverb. Enough said.
And then the chance of ripping hoses out in crashes.
I would not use the same syringes for dot, reverb and mineral.
The ones that come with the reverb are OK a little stiff to start with, but a few strokes will sort it out 😉
as for DOT brakes AVID PROFESSIONAL BLEED KIT is the ONE to get, yes RRP is high, but does come with bleed blocks, fluid, spare olives/inserts etc.
and I have had NO issues with the syringes.
I also found/got some 20ml syringes with no rubber insert, all plastic, they been good. (BD Discardit ii (as in 2))
and good size for most things.