Shane Conley -- a particularly good Youtube teacher

[Moto]

I happened to run into this guy on Youtube and am impressed enough to pass his name along: Shane Conley. I don't recall his name coming up here before.

I first found this excellent demonstration of backward brake bleeding, followed by flushing, a topic that comes up here from time to time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skaKvS_qH_0

Here's his main page, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/user/conleybuilt/playlists

He has hundreds of videos that he has produced while instructing students at his (former) motorcycle mechanic's college in Iowa. He seems to be a really good teacher, smart, unassuming, and thoughtful about what he says to his students. EDIT: He closed his college when Suzuki offered him a "dream job" in California, a couple of years ago. He seems to have expanded his operations to include a web site of his own now, but I don't know the details.

For what it may be worth, for any who might be interested!

Moto

[oldbike54]

 

 Dusty

[balvenie]

Thank you Moto

[Lannis]

I've had a look and can already tell there's some of these that I could benefit from.

Thanks!

Lannis

[Madtownguzzi]

I do not think it is a good ideal to back bleed a motorcycle with ABS as most of the contaminants from the caliper will be flushed threw the ABS module up threw the master cylinder.  Here is an excellent video on bleeding a Harley with ABS that does not back bleed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tddIQ3uuBs

The same guy on the Harley video does back bleed the hydraulic clutch which seems OK to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQWSPobQGEA

[Moto]

I do not think it is a good ideal to back bleed a motorcycle with ABS as most of the contaminants from the caliper will be flushed threw the ABS module up threw the master cylinder.  Here is an excellent video on bleeding a Harley with ABS that does not back bleed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tddIQ3uuBs

The same guy on the Harley video does back bleed the hydraulic clutch which seems OK to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQWSPobQGEA

That's a good point, of course. Mr. Conley does follow up the reverse bleed with a forward flush until clean fluid flows out of the caliper. I'm not familiar with the internal arrangements of ABS components that might make them more sensitive.

I find a lot of little pointers of value. For example, he was routinely spraying whole areas of the bike with soapy water before doing any operations that might cause brake fluid to be spread around, something I never would have thought of.

Moto

[Lannis]

That's a good point, of course. Mr. Conley does follow up the reverse bleed with a forward flush until clean fluid flows out of the caliper.

Moto

I don't quite follow the "why" on that part.   I thought that the point of back-filling the system from the caliper up was to (a) make sure all the old fluid was out of the system and (b) reduce the chance of air bubbles and the need for constant final bleeding to remove them.

Once the whole system is full of clean fluid from the bottom up, and the lever is "hard", what's the point of doing it again from the top?

Lannis

[Moto]

I don't quite follow the "why" on that part.   I thought that the point of back-filling the system from the caliper up was to (a) make sure all the old fluid was out of the system and (b) reduce the chance of air bubbles and the need for constant final bleeding to remove them.

Once the whole system is full of clean fluid from the bottom up, and the lever is "hard", what's the point of doing it again from the top?

Lannis

He was doubtful that the system was truly clean once clean fluid appeared at the master cylinder, so he said he would use three or four times more fluid than strictly necessary in order to really clean it out, by conducting the forward flush. At the end of that process he pointed out some residual gunk in the master cylinder caliper that he was finally able to expel by building pressure (with the hand brake lever) and suddenly loosening the bleeder. So his extra effort was rewarded.

Maybe a DYI worker would be better advised to take the time to disassemble and clean the caliper, but he was training would-be professionals who wouldn't be able to bill for that extra service if it wasn't on the work order.

Throughout the series he is emphasizing extra steps or extra care that will produce better repairs.