Bleeding Brakes

Ok, so I borrowed a friends vacuum pump and tried to bleed the brakes but no matter what I did it just sucks air from around the threads of the bleed nipple.
Was thinking I might have to put some teflon tape around the threads of the bleed nipples and see if that works , if anyone else has had the same problem could you please tell me how you fixed it?

First off, Welcome to the madhouse, hope you enjoy. Many friendly and knowledgeable peeps around these parts

Don't put thread tape around the bleeder (or any other part of the brake system) to make it seal better, bad joo-joo IMO. I've seen a few people do it and the tape is either crap tape, not put on well or falls apart and sits under the sealing face of the bleeder causing problems.
There are a couple of ways to get the standard brakes the best they can be (given what they are), remembering that on an ABS there is a mile of hose, pipework and many connection points that all add to the dull feel.
1. Pressure bleed the system. I had spare mcyl caps that I'd modded to put a tyre Vv in so I could use a pushy pump on which pressurized the whole system making it "blow" the fluid out. Bit slow and painful to do as you're always checking and refilling the mcyl but it gave good results in the end.
2. Take the bleeders out and clean the F### out of them and reinstall. Using a syringe carefully "push" fluid back into the system. This is the very final step once you've changed/flushed and bled the system. Doesn't need much, just enough to displace any remaining air and move it to the mcyl so it can pop out the top.

The brakes on the Bandit are what they are, built to a budget (IIRC it used to be about $500 difference between non ABS and ABS bikes), they are nothing special but they do the job. Better pads help a fair bit tho.

Thanks mate, love the idea of the homemade pressure bleeder. ill give the syringe ago and see how it works out, as it is the lever is alot better than it was after bleeding the brakes every second day.
Dont laugh but I even thought of suspending the Bandit nearly vertically to get the air out of the ABS system.

Ok, tried the syringe method but found it hard to not introduce new air into the system so the next thing I did after bleeding them once again was to clean the calipers.
Started by removing the calipers and taking the pads out, one side at a time then pumping the pistons out a little and cleaning with a toothbrush and brake cleaner.
Noticed quite a few bubbles in the reservoir when pushing the pistons back in, now the front brake lever feels way more solid.
Maybe pushing the pistons in forcefully moves a lot more fluid quickly than just trying to bleed them?, not real sure anyway was interesting to see that it still has Tokico brake pads (wife bought the Bandit for me with 8,500kms on it) and still plenty of material left on them at 12,000km.
Thanks for your help Dhula.

If you have spongy feeling front brakes try this crazy idea that I was shown many years ago.  Trust me, it makes no sense but it actually has worked every single time I have used it across many bikes.

**All this assumes that there are no brake component issues on the bike **

Get yourself a piece of wire or string, compress the brake level to the handlebar by hand and then wrap the wire around the hand grip and lever to hold it in that position.  Leave it that way overnight and in the morning remove it.

I guarantee the lever feel will be significantly better!

As I prefaced, it makes no sense why.  I am a qualified mechanic who has been playing with cars and bikes for 30 years and I laughed at my mate and told him he was an idiot but he convinced me to try it. But it absolutely works

GDUB

GDUB wrote:If you have spongy feeling front brakes try this crazy idea that I was shown many years ago.  Trust me, it makes no sense but it actually has worked every single time I have used it across many bikes.

**All this assumes that there are no brake component issues on the bike **

Get yourself a piece of wire or string, compress the brake level to the handlebar by hand and then wrap the wire around the hand grip and lever to hold it in that position.  Leave it that way overnight and in the morning remove it.

I guarantee the lever feel will be significantly better!

As I prefaced, it makes no sense why.  I am a qualified mechanic who has been playing with cars and bikes for 30 years and I laughed at my mate and told him he was an idiot but he convinced me to try it. But it absolutely works

GDUB

The modern version is to use a cable tie.

Your right though, makes no bloody sense as to why. I find however it is a short lived solution. A day or two at best,then it'll be right back feeling exactly the same again.

Tried the cable tie method as well and have to agree with madmax short term at best.
I'm a mechanic as well and as i understand it the lever being held back keeps the master cylinder fluid holes open and lets the tiny bubbles of air come back up the brake lines, problematic on ABS equipped Bandits because of where the ABS pump is located which means length of line and many bends.
Thanks for all your help.