So, it turns out that the teenagers who assembled my Hawk 250 had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Not only did the bike need a valve adjustment from the moment it rolled out the door, but the break fluid was WAY over filled on both the front and rear.
The front brake has a fluid reservoir on the handlebar which also has a glass window that you can see through. The fluid should basically come right to the middle of the window when the handlebar is turned so that the top of the reservoir is as level as possible. Here is what mine looked like right from the factory, or wherever it was assembled.
The rear brake has a separate reservoir which is located right behind the right side panel on the bike. One screw will remove the panel, and the reservoir has clear fill indicators. Mine was so full you couldn’t even see the top without removing the lid!
How to Check the Fluid Level
Here’s a little video to help see how to check the levels.
How to Bleed the Lines
Lets start with another video to get you started.
Here’s how you use it…
1. Push one end of the clear tubing over a brake bleeder valve, and place the other end of the tubing into a container to collect the old brake fluid. This check valve has an arrow on it indicating which direction the brake fluid should flow. The arrow should point AWAY FROM the brake valve being bled and TOWARDS the container collecting the old fluid.
2. Once this device has been attached to the bleeder valve, open the bleeder valve about 1/4 – 1/2 turn.
3. Depress the brake pedal to force fluid out of the bleeder valve…then release the brake pedal. This 1-way check valve lets air and brake fluid out when the pedal is pressed, but it closes as soon as you stop pressing on the brake pedal. No air is pulled back into the hydraulic system when the pedal is released…so you DO NOT have to close the bleeder valve between pumps of the brake pedal!!! AWESOME!!!!
4. Repeat step #3 as many times as you need to remove air and/or old fluid from the system. Make sure you monitor the fluid level in the master cylinder while doing this. If you let the master cylinder run out of fluid during this process, you will need add more fluid and repeat the bleeding process all over again.
5. When you are done, close the brake bleeder valve.
6. Remove the 1-way check valve tubing from the brake bleeder valve.
How to Completely Change Fluid
Hopefully that helps you get the job done. But definitely don’t ignore the brakes! You kinda need them…
