After another commute with spongy brakes yesterday morning, i spent a
few seconds poking around at the brake line.
When I replaced the handlebars way back in September 2001, I put in a
stainless steel brake line from the reservoir down to the junction. The
line we got was slightly too long, so it wraps around the righthand
fork.
Anyway, back to yesterday morning. I thought maybe the line was kinked
or something, so I was playing with it a little…and when I took my
hand away, there was fluid on my fingertips.
I wasn’t too worried at first; I figured some had dripped onto the line
when I removed/replaced the reservoir cap to bleed the brakes (brake
fluid doesn’t evaporate). I filed it away under “check later.”
So, last night I decided to investigate further. I wiped down the line,
pumped the brakes a few times, and…..the fluid was back. Eureka!
Fifteen seconds later, I discovered that the locknut holding the brake
line to the banjo bolt was loose and, therefore, leaking.
Fifteen seconds after that, I had a 12mm open-ended wrench and a
tightened locknut.
This morning, my brakes were back to normal. Woo! I love easy, free,
fixes to problems. 🙂