[Closed] How often do you bleed your brakes?

Never bothered. They work.

going by my mates and some folk on here dot fluid doesnt seem to last more than a ride.

some folk seem to always be bleeding them.

me - i bleed them when i cut the hoses or change the seals.

About every 50K miles.

Whats this bleeding you talk about!??

2008 and still no need to bleed

had bike 2 years still not touched them

Not just me then 😆 October 2009 when the bike was new.

Bleed them when they stop working properly. Otherwise I wouldn't bother, or if you crazy cook your brakes regularly.

When they need it. Which is much less often than most people think. TBH most folks don't keep brakes long enough for the fluid to need replaced. Most of the time, a need to bleed speaks of an earlier bad bleed (so a need to constantly rebleed kinda speaks for itself 😉 )

Bleed them when they stop working. Or potentially if I have been running the same brakes for years and decide to do an alps trip where fresh fluid may well stop them boiling.

Avid users may tell a different story though as they seem to do a bleed every 5 minutes.

I only did mine at the 3 year point because I was playing with the callipers and accidentally introduced some air in the system.

Otherwise my Juicy 7s would've kept on truckin' for a bit longer still.

Everytime i get a new set of brakes as my tiny frames always need the hose shortening.

Probably only about 4 times though as once they are done i leave them alone.

"Otherwise my Juicy 7s would've kept on truckin' for a bit longer still"

Do you only ride uphill? or maybe not at all?

Dont bother ever, just change the fluid onece in a blue moon.

For interest sake

New Dot 5.1 fluid boils at 270 °C
With 3.7 % of water in it boils at 190 °C

So the hygroscopic properties of brake fluid have an effect.

When they need it, about once a year with juicy's not found out for the XTs yet as only had them a couple of years.
If a little soggy, tape the lever closed and leave overnight, often feels much sharper in the morning

I agree with the juicy comment - a pair of juicy carbons from 2005 - 2 bleeds.

1st @ new and shortening hoses
2nd @ 2007ish due to fitting goodridge hoses

And they still work like a beast

Never. Bike was new in 2007. It still stops.

usual rule for bike fettling:

People who fanny about bleeding brakes regularly complain about brakes a lot.
People who fit and forget tend not to mention them.

have an old set of Deores from about 2006/7 that have only been bled once and that was about 6 years ago.

Shimano seem pretty good in that they don't need bleeding very often, if at all.

Avids on the other hand.... GF boiled her new Avids last year so i re-bled them. the rear would be fine for a while then go squishy. prob more to do with a crap bleed, but then they are a PITA to bleed properly and seem to take an age compared to Shimano

When they lose their bite or basically when I think they need a bleed.

If they feel OK then don't bleed em. Easy.

Both sets of Hope are about 5 years old. Never touched them. Did have to cable tie the levers of the hybrid to the grips (bite point) in January. Not been used for a few months and they felt a little spongey. Over night they were fine.

Double post.

I bled mine (shimano) after 3 weeks in the Alps & Spain & the fluid was black! They felt fine BTW; the bleed wasn't necessitated, it was in tandem with a hose change.

we are avids on every thing here. the SS (old Avid 7s) has not been bled in 7 years and work just right, James DH racing bike (new ish Elixiers CRs) seem like it needs bleeding every month all the others prob once a year.

watsontony - Member
"Otherwise my Juicy 7s would've kept on truckin' for a bit longer still"

Do you only ride uphill? or maybe not at all?

Eh?

I'm not sure what you're on about? Playing wtih the callipers did not equal replacing the pads (if that's the conclusion you've mistakenly come to).

I was actually faffing with the angle that the hose entered the calliper (not that its anything to be proud of).

To make it worse I was using Superstar pads in my Avid brakes and I still didn't explode 😀

My old Avids required bleeding constantly to get any kind of performance out of them, especially the back one. Current brakes I've never bled and don't see any need to any time soon (Formula The Ones).

Shimano SLX M665s

~3 years old.

About once a year in the uk, 3 days in the alps. Symptoms - pumping up a little, that's all.

Most customers that come into work "my brakes need a bleed", 99% of the time it's caliper setup and sticky piston.

Bought my Pitch in 2008, never touched the Juicy 3s except for pads. Guess I've been lucky.

Once.

Bought my Pitch in 2008, never touched the Juicy 3s except for pads. Guess I've [s]been lucky[/s] never known what it was like to have decent brakes so I don't know what I'm missing

FTFY 😛

I've bled my Hope Mono Mini's once in 5 years as I based them and let some air in. I've never bled my age old Deore's and I've had them for a looooong time.

I'm in the "i'll bleed them when they stop working" camp and so far they haven't.

Shimano, about 6 years ago, still fine.

Once a year when I do my bike services.
The old fluid is always clear so it doesn't really need doing but it's just habbit now.
Only takes a couple of minutes.

I like to keep on top of my brakes, so at least once every two weeks!

Still running a set of XT 4 pots from around 2003. Never been bled and still work fine...

I've bled a set of brakes twice. when changing a set of hoses. Fresh bleed on a new set of hopes as they weren't done up tight enough. Since 2005 ish

~every four years.

There are only 2 reasons to bleed brakes or replace fluid.

1. Water contamination: symptom is spongy non progressive feel. Fluid change required, and you need to suss out where the moisture is getting in as it shouldn't.

2. air in the system, symptoms, long travel on lever that shortens when you pump the lever. Fix is to bleed brakes and suss out how air is getting in as it shouldn't be.

Other than that no need to bleed brakes at all in a sealed system. Cars are not sealed systems so need bleeding every 2 yrs or so. Bikes systems are sealed, so in theory you should never have to bleed brakes or replace fluid so long as your system remains fully sealed.

Depends on the brakes.
DOT systems, every year/18 months as the fluid goes all crappy with it being hygroscopic
Mineral systems, when they feel spongy-so hardly ever unless there's another problem with them.

usual rule for bike fettling:

People who fanny about bleeding brakes regularly complain about brakes a lot.
People who fit and forget tend not to mention them.

agreed

The fluid is hygroscopic, but the systems are fully sealed, so no moisture to get in there assuming your brake system seals are good and the brakes were bled properly upon installation. Other than tat the fluid does not degrade with time or use, until such time sealing fails. No need to change fluid otherwise, you are just introducing opportunity for problems.

In theory wobbliscott you are of course correct, but in reality I haven't come across a 'sealed' DOT system yet that doesn't need a fluid change after a few years.
The fluid always goes cloudy (water ingest) & can cause corrosion issues in severe cases.

hmmm every two weeks for me,as i think maintenance is highly important.

Only ever had to bleed a set of old Hayes HFX 9s once because I accidentally popped a piston out. Took me 10 minutes because because a I did a "bottom-up" bleed by forcing fluid into the system at the caliper with a large syringe.

Never had to bleed any of my Avids, but then I don't faff with them. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

grum - Member

Bought my Pitch in 2008, never touched the Juicy 3s except for pads. Guess I've been lucky never known what it was like to have decent brakes so I don't know what I'm missing

FTFY

Haha, I have thought that but honestly I don't ever feel I've been under braked. The wheels can be locked easily and I get plenty of feel from the levers.

sircharles : get back under your bridge.

FTFY

Dunno, I've had SLX brakes for a bit, my mates got XTs and I still prefer my Avid Elixirs (and preferred the Juicys before that). Think it's mostly down to the lever design/shape than anything else though, plus the Shimanos seem to have a more on/off feel that I didn't get on with as much.

Also had a Formula K18 for a while but didn't get on with that much. Tiny pads that wear really quickly, and the lever was too chunky.

I've a set of 2004 M4s. They were bled because I fitted braided hoses in 2007. They still stop like I've just ridden into a barn door.

Some brakes work very well, some don't.

Load of bolloxs talked about brakes get real FFS