Hey guys-
I've got a recurring problem with my Avid brakes, and seeing as how I've been running Hayes on all my bikes since the dawn of time, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing wrong.
Basically what happens is that if you happen to pull the brake lever (particularly the rear brake) while the bike is either upside down or standing on its rear wheel, the brake goes to mush - you can pull the lever all the way to the bar.
Now I realize that the most obvious solution is just not to pull the brake lever when the bike is in those weird positions, but me being the dip$hit that I am, I often forget and do it anyway because I'm rolling the bike around my shop or working on it someplace and have the bike upside down.
I'm assuming this problem is due to a bad bleed and there is air somewhere in the system that gets freed up and goes into the line when the bike is in these awkward positions, but I've had this happen when the brakes are straight out of the box, right after a bleed by a very good shop mechanic, and right after an anally-retentive, painstakingly precise bleed by yours truly.
So I have 3 questions:
1. Am I correct in assuming that this problem results from air hiding somewhere in the system?
2. Where in the hell is the air hiding?
3. How in the hell do I bleed it to get the air outta there?? Or is there someway I can get the brakes back to normal without re-bleeding?
Thanks in advance, amigos.
--JP
I've got a recurring problem with my Avid brakes, and seeing as how I've been running Hayes on all my bikes since the dawn of time, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing wrong.
Basically what happens is that if you happen to pull the brake lever (particularly the rear brake) while the bike is either upside down or standing on its rear wheel, the brake goes to mush - you can pull the lever all the way to the bar.
Now I realize that the most obvious solution is just not to pull the brake lever when the bike is in those weird positions, but me being the dip$hit that I am, I often forget and do it anyway because I'm rolling the bike around my shop or working on it someplace and have the bike upside down.
I'm assuming this problem is due to a bad bleed and there is air somewhere in the system that gets freed up and goes into the line when the bike is in these awkward positions, but I've had this happen when the brakes are straight out of the box, right after a bleed by a very good shop mechanic, and right after an anally-retentive, painstakingly precise bleed by yours truly.
So I have 3 questions:
1. Am I correct in assuming that this problem results from air hiding somewhere in the system?
2. Where in the hell is the air hiding?
3. How in the hell do I bleed it to get the air outta there?? Or is there someway I can get the brakes back to normal without re-bleeding?
Thanks in advance, amigos.
--JP