by Cyndi Li

Created on: November 04, 2011   Last Updated: November 08, 2011

Keeping your motorcycle maintained is crucial to its longevity. Without proper repair and maintenance, it won’t take long for your bike to start showing signs of wear. Taking your motorcycle to a repair shop can get expensive so the more maintenance you can do yourself, the more money you’ll save. Bleeding the rear brakes on your motorcycle is one of those things you can do yourself.

When your motorcycle brakes start feeling spongy it’s time to replace the brake fluid and bleed the brakes. There’s really not a lot involved, and you can do it all by yourself. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to bleed the rear brakes on a motorcycle.

Prepare your bike

If it isn’t already clean, clean up the area around the brake fluid reservoir. This will help prevent any foreign matter from getting into the brake lines.

Remove the filler cap of the reservoir, and fill it with the manufacturer’s recommended brake fluid. You can usually find this information on top of the filler cap. It’s important not to use a different kind of brake fluid for this repair as this may damage the motorcycle, and render the braking system unreliable.

Place a small drop cloth on the floor or ground underneath the rear area of you motorcycle. This will catch any brake fluid that may miss the container.

Place a container underneath the nipple on your brake caliper, and remove the rubber cap on the nipple.

Bleeding the rear brakes

Pump the motorcycle brake lever 2 or 3 times. While keeping the pressure on the brake lever, slowly open the nipple. Old brake fluid will come out of the nipple, and you’ll feel the brake lever go soft again.

While still holding the brake lever, tighten the nipple back up. Then let go of the lever.

Keep repeating this process until you see new motorcycle brake fluid coming out of the nipple. This will let you know that all of the old brake fluid has been removed, and replaced with the new fluid. You’ll need to keep adding brake fluid to the reservoir until you're done. This will prevent air from getting into the brake lines.

Once you see new brake fluid, tighten up the nipple one more time, and replace the rubber cap. Be sure to fill the reservoir once more before replacing the filler cap. And, you’re done!

If you can't get that spongy feeling to go away by bleeding the rear brakes, you should contact someone who has more knowledge about motorcycle repair for further guidance. 

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