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As much as I love my Hope brakes the thought of bleeding them (which I have to do this week) fills me with dread.
The main problem is mess when you fit the rubber diaphragm and top cap. I do the usual wrap a cloth/old boxers around the lever and use lots of IPA to wash up but it's still not fun as brake fluid is pretty nasty.
Also I get quite inconsistent results across my bikes and struggle to get all the air out.
Why do you have to bleed them?
Water is fine to mop up any split fluid.
I installed my new tech 3 levers a few weeks ago. Had to shorten the cables.
Bled them but I think I didn't really need to. Was an experience.
Have you seen that hope made funnel that you can buy? I'm sure that would help.
cable shortening. Braided ones too - double joy.
Funnel? I was wondering if I could just modify my top caps with some form of bleed nipple but the diaphragm rules that out.
Just looked it up...now this is quite possibly the sexiest bleed kit ever!
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tools/hope-easy-brake-bleed-kit-tech-3-httebk1/
Dammnit, could have been on my Xmas list.
I was thinking about trying my Gunsons Eezibleed to push fluid up from a bleed nipple until it fills the reservoir and keep sucking some out with a syringe as I went.
Ooo, braided lines are a whole new level of difficult! I find Hope brakes generally are dead easy to bleed with just a short length of plastic tube and a syringe to keep the reservoir topped up.
I was thinking about trying my Gunsons Eezibleed to push fluid up from a bleed nipple until it fills the reservoir and keep sucking some out with a syringe as I went.
Go on - if you think fitting the diaphragm is messy (its not) then cleaning the DOT off the roof will be impossible 😀
Seriously put on some nitrile gloves if you want to keep the DOT off your hands, Hold a rag under the reservoir. Roll diaphraghm in , fit top cap. Clean up round the lever with water ( water neutralises DOT fluid) job done.
Just watched the new Hope bleed video.
The new tool still doesnt make the whole placing of the top cap on any less messy! I did wonder why he didn't push back the pistons with the funnel still on. You could see the fluid dripping down the lever - a common sight at home (I do it in the living room when the missus is out!)
I guess I could just attach a syringe to a spare set of top caps and cut the middle out of the spare diaphragms to make my own. I actually quite like the Reverb approach of 2 syringes to pump fluid back and forth.
I did see that he says to place the diaphragm in on the angle, I normally go in flat so that might be the mistake I am making and giving me a bit of air in there.
Pretty sure that water just dilutes dot 4. Same way de-icer just sits in the water run off from airports so has to be captured and processed and discharge monitored etc.
Have now taken to dropping the shifter off the bottom of the lever to save on clean up.
"Pretty sure that water just dilutes dot 4. Same way de-icer just sits in the water run off from airports so has to be captured and processed and discharge monitored etc."
indeed scale does have an effect but dot 4 is water soluable and will be rendered non corrosive by water flush.
Pretty sure that throwing more chemicals at it wont change the need on an industrial scale to capture/process/monitor.
alternatively - take bike outside for the 10 minutes to bleed.
Just set it in a stand so the topcap is level as possible. It's always going to spill as your using it to get the air out
Oh and take the pads out whilst you are doing it to avoid fluid contamination. Put something between the pistons though to stop them moving.
That sjs kit looks nice, I’ve just asked if you can get different top caps
Cheers for that I should of looked, so actually for £40 I can do all my different brakes that’s excellent.
Reverse bleeding is pretty simple. Just open the top cap and syringe out the fluid, fill the syringe and a hose with freshe fluid and pop it over the bleed nipple and crack it open, just push the fluid through until it fills the reservoir, nip up the nipple and put the diaphragm and cap on, pump a few times and you should be ok. Any sponginess at the lever can be dealt with by cable tying the lever back to the bar overnight with the top cap cracked open to let any air out.
I’ve used this method on hope, shimano and on motorcycle brakes without any issues and get a nice firm lever every time.
I so like the look of that Hope kit that I've ordered one. £27.50 just to save me the faff of keeping the tiny Race lever's reservoir topped up whilst bleeding but since I have two sets merry christmas to me
Ive always found hope brakes easy to bleed, its the same technique as bleeding car brakes
I suspended a small container below the lever using elastic bands to catch any over flow
I dont get why people always say dot fluid is nasty
In the 25+ years I've been using it on cars and mtb's ive never had any paint damage etc...
Personally I find shimano brakes a pain to bleed, can be quite messy if the syringe hose pops off the bleed nipple
Sram bleeding edge is quite good
I did it when shortening braided cables when I first got mine. Not as messy as you think. I used alot of paper towel..Aldi does big industrial rolls of the stuff, so when I was doing the rolling diaphragm thing all was nicely absorbed by the towel...and there isn't much of it at all really, a few ml at most. Other than that its a Piece of P...just conventional bleeding like you would with car brakes, no faffing around with syringes.
Nowt wrong with a bit of Dot brake fluid splatter every now and again. Never done me any harm.
Shortening the braided hose is a PITA though...next time I won't bother with braced. It doesn't bend as well as normal stuff too.
Maybe I'm just used to the Hope way but I've never had any issues bleeding any I've had. If you do get a stubborn air bubble it's just a case of making sure the caliper is low, the lever is high and the hose is a straight run upwards then gently tap it all (working bottom-up) with a bit of wood or a tyre lever to work the air upwards. I also find DOT fluid easier and cleaner than mineral as it easily washes off with water whereas mineral seems to be like treacle and always leave a residue that will not shift.
Braided hoses are a PITA though and offer no performance benefits (Hope even say so!) so it's black hose for me, so much easier to cut, route and replace if damaged.
Don't know if you've started yet but I've just shortened the hoses on the wives new tech 3.
1. Remove pads and put something between the pistons that's the same with as the rotor slot.
2. Pump lever until the slave pistons meet this filler. The last squeeze before they're all out though, tie the lever back to the bar.
3. Level the reservoir cap and remove cap and bladder.
4. Disconnect hose from the lever end. Then cut to length with the hose over the reservoir. As you cut it, allow the fluid to run back into the reservoir before discarding this scrap hose section.
5. Refit hose to lever.
6. Untie lever and carefully push the pistons back. This may cause some overflow so be ready with a rag.
7. Roll diaphragm back on, replace cap and clean up.
8. Crack the shroud but slightly and rotate the hose if needed to give a smooth line - don't crack it too much or you'll have to bleed it again.
Any air that may have entered when you cut the hose gets push out through the reservoir when you reset the pistons.
Done them plenty of times before, got 2 other bikes with E4's but these are v4 with braided as standard, had braided hoses on another set too. Just always find it messy when putting the diaphragm in and struggle to get the lever just right without a bit of squish. Must still be trapped air somewhere, need to play with the caliper a bit more and try and work the oil out I think.
I have always done it with the pads in and on a disc in-between unlike shimano where you use the yellow block. Looking at the video he did it with just the pads in and then pushed them back. Shouldnt need to remove the pads to bleed as there shouldnt be much mess at the csliper end.
In terms of braided benefits it's simply the flexibility and resistance to damage. Find them much better on a FS frame.
I believe the recommendation from Hope to fully bleed, put the wheel back in and then put the lever in a vertical position and pump it a few times gets rid of the last few 'squishy' bubbles in the lever body. You then top up the reservoir and roll the diaphragm on again.
Does anyone know if you have to screw the metal caps on the levers right up? Mine only look 2/3s on but are tight?
Sounds like it's not quite sat properly on the diaphragm.
On all of ours, the reservoir caps sits flush on the reservoir body.
Sorry Onza, I mean the horizontal cap that screws over the brake line .
`Oh, the shroud nut? Nope, always three or four turns of thread showing on that.
Ta
Well, had a go with the new Hope bleed kit last night & it worked very nicely
The little socket over the bleed nipple works very well & the funnel makes life so much easier
still a bit messy rolling on the diaphragm
Id not seen the tip in the video to push one side of the pistons, pump the lever then do the other side
gotta do my other brake tonight, will see if it makes a difference
but thumbs up for the new bleed kit
Just googled the bleed kit and saw some more options from Hope to the passive funnel bleed kit:
1. Using a Gunsons Eezibleed: https://www.jensonusa.com/Hope-Easy-Brake-Bleed-Kit-Tech-3
2. Using a Pela vacuum pump: https://activesport.co/epages/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/80c85f8f-7a95-4b1c-9c30-e64b314f3f2e/Products/HTTBLWK
Reverse bleeding is pretty simple. Just open the top cap and syringe out the fluid, fill the syringe and a hose with freshe fluid and pop it over the bleed nipple and crack it open, just push the fluid through until it fills the reservoir, nip up the nipple and put the diaphragm and cap on, pump a few times and you should be ok. Any sponginess at the lever can be dealt with by cable tying the lever back to the bar overnight with the top cap cracked open to let any air out.
I’ve used this method on hope, shimano and on motorcycle brakes without any issues and get a nice firm lever every time.
This is by far the easiest faff free method, works everytime,
Well I went to swap over my levers yesterday but the idiot I got the lever off on eBay has insanely overtightened the screws on the reservoir cap.
I'm gonna get an impact driver from Halfords today to see if I can sort it.
Failing that hacksaw & a new cap it is.
Annoyingly I'll probably have mismatched levers for my ride on weds 😖