• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Zip tying the brake actually worked

RS250 Chester

RS250 Chester

New member
Joined
Jun 28, 2002
Location
Sacramento
Moto(s)
Aprilia RSV Mille, Aprilia RS250, Cagiva Mito 125
I needed to bleed my rear brakes on my Mille (00 model notorious for rear fade). Just got too lazy to do it, so I decided to give the overnight zip tie trick a try. Woke up this morning, removed the zip tie and to my surprise, it actually worked. I probably need to do a little more bleeding, but its definitely 80% better than yesterday.
 
Last edited:
This has been circulating for awhile. Some say it works, others say its urban legend. But I tried it.

Essentially, if your brakes need to be bleed. You simply zip tie the brake lever for its depressed all the way and open the reservoir cap. Let it sit overnight. In theory, the air is supposed to makes it way to the top and release through the reservoir.

Since I was too lazy to bleed and it was late in the day, I tried this for my rear brakes. I was one of those skeptics.....but after I saw them try it on the TV show Top Dead Center.....thought I might as well give it a whirl....to my surprise it was fairly effective.
 
Last edited:
RS250,

Thanks for being the lab rat. Will need to try this on my '01 Mille. :thumbup
 
I flushed my brakes a couple weeks ago.

A complete flush took about 30 minutes. I think I would rather do that.
 
properly flush your brakes then zip tie or just tie with string your brake lever to the clip on and leave for a couple of hours to get better feel (get rid of that "mushy feeling"). I've never heard of it replacing the actual flushing tho.
 
leave the reservoir open all night? why not just dribble some water directly into the fluid too :twofinger

anyways, mille rear brake... I give it no more than a week before it turns back into an on/off switch.
 
can this same trick be applied to automotive brakes? and who is going to be the guinea pig for that?
 
Thats impossible because an air bubbles will rise in the brake system due to the fact that its lighter then the brake fluid. How can compressing the pressure in the brake lines make it rise faster? How hard is it to just bleed the brakes.
 
word. this will go on until someone can irrefutably explain why (if) it works (and how long?). all I know is if the system isn't vented via the bleeder (or expunged to the reservoir) then any air/water is still in there and can only get worse with time. especially since the fluid in the reservoir was open to atmosphere intentionally.
 
Ok well maybe thats not impossible because now I remember doing this once but not to a bike. I works better when the brakes are hot cas the bubbles/water seperate from the fluid. Personaly I would not bleed my brakes like this for a bike. I would rather just bleed it the normal way.
 
I think by having the lever depressed, it pressurizes the system. But wouldn't that make any air bubbles, smaller? So once it sits a while, the smaller air bubbles reattach themselves to each other and you're back to where you started.
 
Like I said, I was a skeptic too, but it worked for me:twofinger

Yes I am too lazy.....especially when you have to bleed the rear mille brakes every week.

Is this a long term solution.....no, but it helped my lazy ass.:laughing :laughing
 
Kevo is right.

Beyond making them smaller, high pressure forces the bubbles to go into solution. It's exactly the opposite of what happens when you open a bottle of sparkling water (coke etc.)

If you don't purge the bubbles through the top or through the bleed valve at the bottom, the mushyness will very likely come back.

The first part of the travel when you squeeze the lever, actually bleeds the master cylinder a little (this is the part thatr squirts brake fluid all over your paint if there is no deflector installed in the reservoir. You can use this to get bubbles out of the top. They usually hide in the banjo bolt.

If there are bubbles in the caliper, they will be above the brake line right at the bleed valve, which is usually located at the highest point in the caliper just for this reason. Since they are already above the brake line, they can't find their way up the line and into the master cylinder to be bled out during the first part of the stroke.

-Paul
 
RS250 Chester said:
Like I said, I was a skeptic too, but it worked for me:twofinger

Yes I am too lazy.....especially when you have to bleed the rear mille brakes every week.

Is this a long term solution.....no, but it helped my lazy ass.:laughing :laughing
Click to expand...

Why do you need to bleed the Mille so often? Does it really need it, this must be a recall problem if so, or are you doing it improperly.
 
fawndog said:
Why do you need to bleed the Mille so often? Does it really need it, this must be a recall problem if so, or are you doing it improperly.
Click to expand...

Not a recall as far as I know, but a common issue with all Mille owners. After bleeding the the rears they are there, but only last about 300 - 400 miles. Then they are pretty much gone.

The only solution I have heard that seems to work, is to remove the caliper and the rear master cylinder. Then invert the caliper and raise it as high as you can while lowering the master as low as possible. This seems to give good feel that lasts, but is a pain in the ass.
 
Ok, now I did something like this before so I agree now that it does work. It depends on your brake system though. On motorcycles, it should work for the fronts and maybe the rear. The trick is to make sure that the path of travel for the air bubbles is greater than horizontal upwards to the fluid reservoir. When the brake cylinder is compressed, it forces fluild towards the caliphers. When released, fluid goes back the other way. If the air bubble gets to the start of the brake line at the cylinder, when you release the brake lever, it sucks the air bubble into the resevior. This isnt the best way to bleed motorcycle brakes and I wouldnt use this method for my bike. Sometimes the air bubbles are inside the caliphers and this technique doesnt always get those bubbles out. Id rather just bleed the brakes.
 
Last edited:
i think the zip-tie trick works because the resservoir is open all night, allowing bubbles to rise. i think the zip-tie actually has nothing to do with it. try bleeding backwards. use a syringe to pull fluid out through the caliper, and you can even push fluid up through the caliper. get creative.
 
phateless: with the lever held shut the reservoir isn't even part of the system anymore - it is closed off so the master cylinder can pressurize the line. if anything leaving the reservoir exposed to the air is a bad thing and counter to every brake fluid manufacturers warnings not to expose the fluid as such for lengthy periods. it is a bad idea period.

the mille rear brake is quite the anomaly. (and bubbles can't rise because the line is horizontal).
 
Ya, I've heard of partially depressing the lever. To allow the air bubbles to escape. But that would depend on the lever and master. The parts being so small, I wouldn't trust that the piston in the master is leaving the system partially open.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top