brake fluid

yip - next job on the list is to drain and renew the brake fluid. Would 500ml or a 1 litre bottle suffice?

And while I'm at it does anyone have any recommendations on a particular product?

I used Halfords generic dot 4 to put a steel braided line in the front. After some faff sucking brake fluid through the new hose (makes your lips numb)and replacing the fluid in the rear as well I have about a 1/4 of a 500ml bottle left. But I made a pigs ear of that job and popped one of the pistons out of the caliper and wasted some fluid. 500ml is loads.

The front brake is now much better.

HomeBrew wrote:I <snip> put a steel braided line in the front.<snip> The front brake is now much better.

Interesting! Actually I've thought of doing that. Any advice on where to get the steel braided line? I've only found HEL brake lines, but there must surely be other manufacturers, right?

I bought a Goodridge line from M&P. It was fairly expensive but also you can tell its quality.

I had two minor problems fitting it but got it done. The lovely stainless banjo bolts supplies had quite an aggressive thread on them and I didn't feel comfortable screwing it into the alloy caliper, it took too much force. Felt like I was cross threading them. So I used the old bolt in the caliper, works great. The line also needed to be twisted slightly to fit. I used the flat, toothless section of a pair of pliers to grip. Worked great.

The brake lever is now rock hard. It is much more confidence inspiring.

While I was down there I cleaned the caliper and looked at the pads. They have huge pits in them! Maybe 30% of the pad face is pits. I have ordered new pads, hopefully they will make a difference too.