My Hel lines came in the post this week so I fitted them today. Good fit and went together well. I learned a few things which I thought I might share.
The rear line was quite difficult to bleed. I got it pumping easily enough but air kept coming through. I flushed about three litres of fluid through them (I did recycle the clean fluid by putting it back in the reseviour) and kept getting the occasional large bubbles, but mostly just fluid with lots of tiny bubbles in it. I eventually gave up but netherless brake feel is good.
Front brake was a little tricky. Air in the master cylinder made it impossible to bleed the calipers and lines. No matter how much pumping no fluid would come through. So, I constructed a little tool to help.
Required is a hose, two hose clamps and a tyre valve. Clamp the tyre valve in the hose. Fill the hose with brake fluid and attach the other end to the nipple on a caliper. Unlock the nipple and proceed to pump air in via the valve with a bicycle pump (making sure to close the nipple before the air has a chance to get in! The result is forcing fluid up the lines, thus forcing air out the master cylinder. I found my pump reading up to 60psi at one point! The result was the lever got some feel and I was then able to bleed the front brakes as usual.
Hope this helps! It will be kept as a tool in my toolbox. _________________ MC21 Honda NSR250. TYGA 300 conversion.
Stainless lines can be an absolute pig to bleed at times, but I've had other occasions when the lever has "come up" within about 30 seconds!
The last time I did mine was after fitting a new (CBR1000RR) radial master cylinder, and the lever started to come up within just a few pumps! Easiest I've ever experienced.
The OEM NSR Nissin master cylinder seems particularly prone to trapping air. It doesn't even always bleed easily if an HRC bleed bolt is fitted, but it certainly helps. _________________ Andy.
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Yeah, I remember the braided lines that I put on my XR440 Honda being a pita to bleed. As I was a teenager my attention was fixed on other things (namely, trying to extract more horsepower from the XR than the damn chassis could handle. I wish I had of thought of this idea sooner.
I use a syringe filled with brake fluid , a small tube onto the nipple and push the brake fluid into the callipers and up the lines . Works well , front or rear callipers no problem .
Neal, my idea is the same as the syinge method of yours. Though getting the 40 - 60 psi that it needed to blow the bubbles out might be tricky with anything less than a bicycle pump.
Bad idea.
Brake fluid is hygroscopic. That means it soaks up moisture from the air.
By using pressurized air you are also pumping moisture into your brake fluid.
A couple of tricks I used when bleeding my front brakes from completely dry.
1:Master cylinder traps air so cracking the banjo bolt at the master cylinder to get the air bubble out from there helps if you don't have a bleed nipple there.
2:A vacuum bleeder sucks fluid (and air) without contaminating your brake fluid with moisture.
3: Most importantly, unbolt the calipers and hold them above the master cylinder (air travels up)
I still think my idea is pretty good if you flush the contaminated fluid through afterwards. A one way valve will be the next addition to my contraption, though, as some brake fluid made its way in to the bike pump!
Where do you get a vacuum bleeder? _________________ MC21 Honda NSR250. TYGA 300 conversion.
For anyone who may be interested, or considering an upgrade, I've added a couple of Accossato radial master cylinders to the Marketplace now. The perfect accompaniment to some new HEL lines!
All Accossate products are made in-house, and are always in stock. Delivery would be direct from the factory, and should be within 5~7 working days within Europe. maybe a little longer for RoW. _________________ Andy.
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Quick question for Andy. I ordered the brake lines to be ADR compliant. However I didn't notice any stickers on the lines to say that's the case or any way to tell for sure. When going to register a bike, what would they be looking for on the brakes?
What is a radial master cylinder? I know that radial brakes has to do with the mounting of the discs, but what's that got to do with the style of master cylinder? Or are they entirely separate things? _________________ MC21 Honda NSR250. TYGA 300 conversion.
The ADR approved HEL lines should have a heavy duty type of heat-shrink covering the ferrules (the swaged/crimped part between the hose and banjo).
Your lines were sent direct from the factory, so I didn't see them. Please let me know of they don't have this cover for some reason. _________________ Andy.
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If you look closely, they probably have ADR or FMVSS-106 in black printed on the "boots" too. As far as I know, it's not an actual requirement to have them printed, but it gives the testers something less to moan about!
HEL lines (without the boots) actually conform to, and significantly exceed, all current industry standards. FMVSS-106 is the test by which all other organisations base their requirements on. Technically, any HEL Performance brake line meets and exceeds ADR specification, regardless of whether it has the boots or not, and should therefore pass any roadworthyness test. A good examiner will know this, but it sounds like most don't!
From the official HEL website:
"All brake hoses must comply with the requirements of FMVSS-106. These requirements set out the strict test criteria that all hoses must pass to enable them to be used on the road. These requirements, as commanded by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, are then used by the DOT (United States Of America), NHTSA (United States Of America), TuV (Germany), ADR (Australia), LTSA (New Zealand), IDR (Israel) and MOT (Europe) as the test criteria used by each country. Having passed all of these requirements and by registering with the above organisations, HEL Performance brake lines can be used anywhere in the world." _________________ Andy.
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Please keep all responses to Forum posts on the Forum so that others may benefit.
Please DO NOT PM me for technical advice. My time is precious, and you will probably receive a faster response on the Forum anyway.
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