Tryin to get this brake bleed thing straight

[toonces]

Long story short I had to disconnect my right front caliper to do some other work and now that it's all back together I need to refill and bleed that brake line. First time doing this and to the best of my knowledge the only two 'line ends' I'll need to work with are my right handlebar reservoir and the bleed valve on the caliper itself. Considering the caliper I took off are there any other parts on the bike besides these I need to be concerned about?

Now insofar as back bleeding vs. top down bleeding goes...I understand that since bubbles rise, only doing a top down bleed leaves open the possibility of leaving some bubbles in the vertical brake line. But since the bleed valve on the caliper is an inch or more above where the banjo bolt brake fluid lines comes in (on my bike anyway) you would have to do at least some top down bleeding to make sure all the bubbles escape from the caliper out the higher positioned bleed valve. Together these two ideas imply that it might be best to do both some top down and bottom up bleeding. Any thoughts?

Anybody have a somewhat educated idea of how quickly air bubbles rise in the vertical line between the caliper banjo bolt and the handle? If they rise slowly enough seems like it would be possible to bleed the whole thing by doing only a top down.

Edited August 25, 2015 by toonces

[LT80]

If I was to put a line on, I bleed the top banjo and the caliper bleed. Bleeding at the top would save some time imo.

In your case Id just bleed the caliper.

I believe that the bubbles will not rise fast enought and that yes, you should be able to bleed at the caliper.