etap hrd brake bleed issue

[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by Gummee

Welcome to riding SRAM brakes.

Get used to that kind of thing.

M

I own 2 bikes with ETap HRD brakes set up by a very reputable shop. Still working great after a few thousand miles.

I guess I don’t have to get used to that kind of thing...

[oddsaabs]

A couple things come to mind if they're having trouble getting fluid to flow from caliper to lever:

1. The lever hasn't released all the way out and the piston is blocking the pathway to the reservoir. Simple problem that can happen if the lever throw isn't dialed all the way out before bleeding begins.

2. A piece of plastic from the lever is blocking the channel from the piston to the reservoir. Not uncommon, especially if the banjo bolt has been removed and reinstalled into the lever. It's made of plastic stuff.

3. As mentioned earlier, one of the steps has been overlooked like loosening the Bleeding Edge fitting at the caliper.

Hope that helps.

[mdeth1313]

Thanks again for all the responses.

I called the shop and of course, he hadn't done any work since he called me the afternoon before. I told him I was going to pick up the bike and try it myself because I thought it was going to get expensive since he didn't know what the issue was.

The plan is to pick it up tomorrow after work and see what's going on. If I don't think I can handle it, it's off to a more reputable shop that has more experience working on this stuff.

Sadly, I don't think this shop puts much effort into this kind of stuff. It's a small shop and he's able to survive because he's the owner and he's the mechanic so there's not much overhead. I don't use the shop much but I've sent a lot of people there who have purchased bikes for their kids, the entire family, racks, etc, and I'm not looking for special treatment, but I feel as if every experience I've had there has been shoddy workmanship on his part, and I've been overcharged, so screw it. No more sending business there and I'll never set foot in the shop again.

[vqdriver]

Originally Posted by Gummee

Welcome to riding SRAM brakes.

Get used to that kind of thing.

M

[Heisenberg]

the contact adjuster at the top of the lever (big 5mm fitting) needs to be backed out to the snap ring in order to bleed, otherwise it'll block the fluid from entering the system.

the second time i ever bled HRD brakes i lost my mind skipping this minor step.

[mdeth1313]

Called the other bike shop I was going to use today from work and explained the situation and they said they've worked on a couple of road bikes w/ sram disc brakes with some debris in the line, so it was a possibility.

I picked up the bike from shop 1 and, to my surprise, he didn't charge me, which was probably the right thing to do.

Drove to the other shop and brought it in around 3:20 PM. He took a look, asked a few questions, went over a few things, took my info down and told me he'd have some info for me later today. I asked to use their restroom before I left and when I went back around to leave they already had the bike in the stand working on it. Unlike shop 1 where I dropped it on Friday and he didn't even look at it until Tues afternoon.

Mechanic also mentioned both brakes shouldn't have the same issue so maybe shop 1 missed something.

I do most of my own wrenching - hopefully this works out so I have someone to go to for things I either can't do or would rather have someone else work on.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by SoCalSteve

I own 2 bikes with ETap HRD brakes set up by a very reputable shop. Still working great after a few thousand miles.

I guess I don’t have to get used to that kind of thing...

Give it a while. Something's going to happen.

I see many more SRAM equipped bikes than you do...

M

[mdeth1313]

Story over. Received an email that the bike was done around noon the next day. Picked it up later that afternoon. Less than 24 hour turnaround, charge was $10 less than the original shop's quote of $60 (before he was going to go looking for the "problem".

Shop that did the work said there was some resistance and he thought the stealthamajig (sram hose connector) might not have been fully tightened on one end so it was causing some issue.

At least now I have a competent mechanic to use when I can't or don't want to do things myself.

[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by mdeth1313

Story over. Received an email that the bike was done around noon the next day. Picked it up later that afternoon. Less than 24 hour turnaround, charge was $10 less than the original shop's quote of $60 (before he was going to go looking for the "problem".

Shop that did the work said there was some resistance and he thought the stealthamajig (sram hose connector) might not have been fully tightened on one end so it was causing some issue.

At least now I have a competent mechanic to use when I can't or don't want to do things myself.

So, in the end, it was an installation issue, not something that went wrong with any of the SRAM components?

[mdeth1313]

Originally Posted by SoCalSteve

So, in the end, it was an installation issue, not something that went wrong with any of the SRAM components?

That's what it appears. It must be the side I didn't disconnect when I pulled switched handlebars and had to pull the hoses through (internal routing). When I reinstalled those suckers were tight.

Nice to find a mechanic who checked that first!