TomZ
Member
The original hydraulic clutch and brake fluids that came with my "new" (in March) 2012 Super Tenere were dark (water-contaminated) and nasty smelling. It was time to change them. Along the way, I replaced the original bleeder screws with one-way valves from Speed Bleeder. There were some lessons learned, and I thought to share them.
1. The S10 uses 3 different sizes of bleeder screws on the clutch slave cylinder and front/rear brake calipers. The ones on the clutch and left front brake caliper both use an SB8125L (M8x1.25 thread) The one on the right front caliper has a longer shank and is an SB8125LL. On the rear brake caliper, it's an SB7100L (M7x1.0 thread). The drain nipples on the SB screws are a little longer than those on the OEM screws. That’s useful because the longer nipple helps keep the drain tubing from falling off. All the Speed Bleeder replacements use an 8 mm wrench.
2. Very little fluid is lost in changing the bleeder screws. Simply clean off any dirt around the bleeders, unscrew the original ones, wipe off the leaked fluid and carefully screw in the new ones until they bottom out. The SB screws come with thread sealant already applied. Backing the bleeder screw out ~1/2 turn allows pumping the old fluid out without sucking air back into the line.
4. Bleeding the clutch has several pitfalls. Aside from the obvious one that brake fluid attacks paint and its good practice to cover the painted tank area before removing the reservoir cover, the reservoir on the left handlebar has very small capacity. Three good pumps on the clutch lever will empty the reservoir and inject air into the hydraulic line. You know it's happened when the lever loses its resistance. Gently pumping the lever while keeping the reservoir filled will slowly expel the air back into the reservoir. However, be aware that you have to pull the lever back a little past its rest position to move the push rod clear of the (rear) orifice in order to refill the line on each stroke. You can remove the reservoir cover to see what happens when you pump, but need to pump very slowly to avoid fluid jetting out from the reservoir.
That's it. Bleeding the brakes is straightforward.
1. The S10 uses 3 different sizes of bleeder screws on the clutch slave cylinder and front/rear brake calipers. The ones on the clutch and left front brake caliper both use an SB8125L (M8x1.25 thread) The one on the right front caliper has a longer shank and is an SB8125LL. On the rear brake caliper, it's an SB7100L (M7x1.0 thread). The drain nipples on the SB screws are a little longer than those on the OEM screws. That’s useful because the longer nipple helps keep the drain tubing from falling off. All the Speed Bleeder replacements use an 8 mm wrench.
2. Very little fluid is lost in changing the bleeder screws. Simply clean off any dirt around the bleeders, unscrew the original ones, wipe off the leaked fluid and carefully screw in the new ones until they bottom out. The SB screws come with thread sealant already applied. Backing the bleeder screw out ~1/2 turn allows pumping the old fluid out without sucking air back into the line.
4. Bleeding the clutch has several pitfalls. Aside from the obvious one that brake fluid attacks paint and its good practice to cover the painted tank area before removing the reservoir cover, the reservoir on the left handlebar has very small capacity. Three good pumps on the clutch lever will empty the reservoir and inject air into the hydraulic line. You know it's happened when the lever loses its resistance. Gently pumping the lever while keeping the reservoir filled will slowly expel the air back into the reservoir. However, be aware that you have to pull the lever back a little past its rest position to move the push rod clear of the (rear) orifice in order to refill the line on each stroke. You can remove the reservoir cover to see what happens when you pump, but need to pump very slowly to avoid fluid jetting out from the reservoir.
That's it. Bleeding the brakes is straightforward.
