Hayes Nine 9 Brakes Advice - Servicing, Bleeding & Pads

Bullpup

Senior Retro Guru
I have just managed to pick up a set of these for the princely sum of £5!

The pistons all move but in both cases one side is better than the other.

At the very least they need new pads and a bleed at the worst they need a new set of pistons as the exposed ends look a bit dog eared.

First things first - Bleeding: I understand that you can get a bleed adapter rather than the full kit - has anyone got a spare please or know a source?

Can I use ordinary brake / clutch fluid?

Which pads work best?

Many thanks
 
The bleed bit is just a metal hose insert which sits in th ebleed port which is plugged on the resevoir cap.

I use semi mettalics on mine. The originals are good but pricey. The alligator ones i had seem to glaze over about half way through their life. The calrks ones are ok but dont seem as grabby. Got some superstar ones to use next.
That said the alligator ones were on 1 1/2 years commuting before i changed them due to the above problem!

I have a funny way to bleed them (as i have with most brakes). Probably a video for it though but let me know if you want to know my way and i will try and explain it.

car brake fluid should be ok i reckon, i use mobil stuff. Its dot4, these are dot 4 or 5.1.

To make the piston go evenly to lubricate as you would any others. Be careful of the littl tabs in the pistons when walking them back. Theyre very fragile.
 
Thanks Cyfa

I think I saw a post you made about bleeding when I was researching these - I will check.

Any idea where to get the bleed insert please?
 
Im not sure you can buy the insert on its own.

Maybe get one of the cheap kits from ebay?

My cheaters method is simple in that the fluid is heavier than air so fluid goes down and air rises (with a little suction help).
Has worked for me for 4+ sets.
And i do it on some other brakes too with success, some will say its not perfect but it works fine.
 
I used a syringe, a length of small hose pipe and the football pump adapter that comes with most footpumps or in my case my Topeak track pump.

I put a length of hose on the caliper bleed nipple into a jar.
I sucked brake fluid into the syringe, set the lever level with the little plastic plug at the top. Removed the plug, and squired fluid in with the football pump adapter, opening and closing the bleed screw at the caliper as needed.

I got about a dozen syringes off Ebay for a couple of quid, come in handy for greasing things too.
 
Pistons are easy to replace in these (and ceramic so you can break them out if they are jammed in hard).

Bleeding can be tricky (as with all Hayes), although like Cyfa, I use a similar 'bodge' type method that works better than the squeeze, release, squeeze method.

I may have a spare bleed connection - I'll have a look in the man cave and let you know.

I've always found that the Hayes original pads are the best by a country mile - the semi metallic ones especially.
 

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