[vermicious]

Any other Aprilia owners out there suffering from pressure loss to the rear brake? I lose brake pressure steadily over a couple of thousand miles and have to bleed them dry in order to restore it. This is easy enough to do but gets to be a little obnoxious if you put real miles on the bike.

I love this bike and would really like to find a permanent solution to my solitary complaint with it. Any ideas?

 

[vermicious]

I've read all of this before and been in countless other forums discussing the topic but despite following the advice of so-called brake experts and having the line "professionally" bled the problem persists. I'm just looking for a more consistently reliable solution.

 

[vermicious]

I don't know much about these things but I was hoping for a kit that could effect a change in orientation such that bubbles were less likely to form WITHIN the brake itself. I've never experienced this issue with any other bike and I know of no one else that's experiencing it (outside of other Aprilia owners). I also have yet to hear of someone coming up with a long term solution. The forum you were quoting (if memory serves) suggests that the solution is bleeds every 3k miles or so but (in later response) finds that the frequency with which bleeds need to occur varies wildly even when executed by those experienced in brake work.

 

[vermicious]

Buy a Honda?

bah... actually, I've owned a few Hondas and they're awesome bikes but I've never had the affinity for one that I have for my Tuono. *shrug*

 

[vermicious]

It's that thing you use to stop in loose gravel, so's you don't dump yerself on yer arse.

or to stretch your back when stopped on a hill

 

[vermicious]

For anyone else who may have experienced this I was able to eliminate the issue without a full-on bleed by following a somewhat counter-intuitive piece of advice from Aprilia tech. Namely, hang a full can of paint from the rear brake lever. The reason this is counter-intuitive is because the MC and reservoir are the lowest points in the brake brake system. What makes the effectiveness of this solution even more ironic is the fact that it didn't work for me until I used the rear wheel stand (effectively increasing the elevation of the brake over the MC and reservoir)... koo-koo nutty. Oh, and it seems to work best if you warm the bike up first... I don't know if lowers the brake fluid viscosity or what but it takes a hell of a lot less time to get the desired results after the bike's been running for five minutes or more.

 

[vermicious]

Alright, what the hell are you holding in your avatar? Is that a leaf blower? Some sort of Nerf Bazooka/cannon thing? World's largest turkey baster?

haha, it's a weed-whacker... I was chasing a friend with it.