Oh god… been trying to bleed front brakes today with no success… so new brake cylinder kit, new brake lines, new pistons, seals and pads… 2 hours and nothing. 
Reverse bleed it…I use a syringe and pump the brake fluid into the caliper bleed nipple, one side at a time…air doesn’t normally like going down and tends to sit in the highest point in the system.
You’ll never get a good “rear brake pedal”…just the way they are I guess, still works but feel is terrible.
Smithy.
Ok cool… I’ll purchase one tomorrow and give it ago… again thanks 
Are you trying to bleed both at same time?
Pick up a Mighty Vac pump. When you use it, you’ll probably need a bit of Teflon tape on the bleed nipples so you build a vaccum and don’t have spiral leakage at the threads
Okay, thanks for the advice 
Reverse brake bleeding using a syringe worked a treat 
Result…an old trick taught to my by my father…many moons ago.
Smithy.
old thread I know but I’ve got spongy front brakes.. seems to me that having the brake hose going to the middle of the 2 cylinders instead of the top might be a problem? I’ve seen no bubbles coming out of the nipple, but tying the lever in does help for a while. maybe the bubbles would rise better if the hose was at the top? as in taking the calipers off and levelling so the hose is at the top… then leaving for a few hrs/ day until all the bubbles rise and come out of the master cylinder ? any thoughts?
Are you still running the original rubber brake lines..?? If so, they will always feel “spongy”…mine were the same, I fitted some stainless braided lines, new cross drilled rotors and the brakes actually work now and feel fine.
Smithy.
good to know- yes all rubber deteriorates over 40 years. All the rubber bellows on the calipers were bulged up- so replaced all them-
I’ll experiment with my idea first, since holding the brake lever in all night does make them work for 1/2 hr or longer
Wow what a lot of drilling! looks like you marked it out first too.. haha
Nah..I bought them like that..
Smithy.
well my experiment didn’t work- I can still lock the brakes up but looks like I’ll be getting some braided hoses as you suggest-- thanks for the tip.. cheers
Hi, I had the same trouble with mine..bike been sitting for 35 years all the rubbers have perished.. I got rid of the old brake lines front and rear including the manifold where they join.. so much better bit of a pain to bleed but what with Smithys help all good now
nice. mine’s been sitting for 10 years in a workshop. I always thought brake hoses had string in them to stop any kind of swelling? and they’re not brittle and don’t leak fluid - did you bolt all 3 banjos together where the manifold was? my back brakes fine at the mo- and I’ve got plenty of other stuff to fix first, so that can wait.
The hoses run straight through, no joints.. I’ll send you some pics later and a link where I got the hoses from.. I’ve got a set of 3x comes with a little copper washes and everything you need.
Ah I see.. after thinking of bango’s, I checked mine and the top master cylinder one was not quite tight! So bled it again and had some improvement there.. haven’t ridden yet, but could be fixed! I hope so anyway… cheers
