Bleeding 1300 Brakes

[Malcolm6112]

At first I was a bit apprehensive to touch a ABS system.
After speaking to Poppy Dave and having a read on the US site, really it's not hard at all!!



Front means done with the front brake, rear means the foot brake.

Step 3 is very important, remove the 2 6mm allen keys from the LHF caliper and rest on a milk crate. The bleed valves need to be around 15 degrees above flat.
Don't forget to put a spanner between the pads, so you can put the caliper back on again.

The rear res empties quickly.

I did mine with all the plastic off, as I am doing other things as well.
An interesting point that is made, to get firm feeling brakes, leave them overnight with the brakes applied. Weight hanging on the foot pedal and a cable tie on the front.
It allows any small bubbles to go to the reservoirs. Don't know it it's true or not.


 

For reference.
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?53678-ST1300-Brake-Bleeding-Sequence-Cheat-Sheet


http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?68913-ST1300-Brake-Fluid-Replacement

[Poppy Dave]

It's true! A bit fiddly but quite easy really. 

I've been toying with having a go at mine for some time and then one day I went and bought some brake fluid, so I was 1/2 way there . I already had a 'Motion Pro' bleed tool that I did my clutch with .

I looked at the references Malcolm's quoted, thought some, read some more, thought some more, etc,etc then thought,  "STUFF IT..............I'LL GIVE IT A GO!"

It took me about 3 hours total. I was on my own and I stopped for plenty of coffees and smokes and to let my nerves settle . At the end of it I thought, "What the hell's the fuss about?" 

If you're like me and think the prospect of having a go at it is all too hard..................... Think again!

It would be a lot easier with 2 people but CAN be done single handed with a bleed tool with a one-way valve.

DON'T GO AND WASTE MONEY AT THE DEALERS . GET AN ST MATE AND DO BOTH BIKES TOGETHER (You'll see what I mean, promise)

Poppy Dave                                                 

[Shiney]

I just did the brake fluid change myself by following the instructions that were linked above from ST-Owners.com
(I was going to do my own "How To" but this one covers everything brilliantly )

LINK:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?68913-ST1300-Brake-Fluid-Replacement

As I don't have the vac gizmo that is talked about in the instructions I used a great little product that cost a LOT less (AUD$35.95) and works great

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Motion Pro Hydraulic Brake Bleeder
https://www.mxstore.com.au/p/Bike-Accessories/Tools/Motion-Pro-Brake-Bleeder-Hydraulic/08-080143

   

This is a one way valve that stops fluid from sucking back up into the brake system and keeps sucking in the direction of the arrow.
When the pipe is disconnected from the brakes any fluid still in the pipe between the brakes and the valve is sucked through

Another advantage of this Brake Bleeder is that it allows the job to be completed by one person
__________________________________________________________________________________


Anyway the only other thing I brought for this was 1ltr of Dot4 Brake Fluid as I was doing the clutch fluid change as well.
As a note, I used less than half the fluid so for anyone doing this 500ml will be enough

The ST-Owners.com instructions have great pictures with what to do for each step written in each picture (they are easy to follow )
Example:



All up I spent less then $50 to do the brake and clutch fluid change and found it to be a surprisingly easy job to do


I wanted to just add my experience with doing this job

Cheers
Shiney

[tding]

Step 3 it is the secondary master cylinder that is the reason that the left caliper needs to be unbolted . otherwise the air gets trapped in the secondary master cylinder thus stopping the better half of the back brake from working . Have had to fix this problem myself every time after a workshop has worked on brakes.