Hydraulic Brake Bleeding Internval

[Discusman]

I did bleed my brakes last month. Now I need to do it again because the brakes are almost gone particularly the rear brake. I ride my bike for only 2 hours on weekends.

How often do u guys need to bleed your hydraulic brakes? The brakes are non brand names, so I can make assumption that they are low quality.

[gbg]

The only time I bled hydraulic brakes were

1) When I moved some magura HS-11's hydraulic rim brakes from 1 bike to another. Had to disconnect the rear caliper to get
the line out of the brazed on line holder. They were on the 1st bike for 8 years, and I replaced them with HS-33's
had to bleed them after putting them on the other bike for the same reason, have never needed bleeding from 1996-2003
and 2003-2011.

2) Broke the front hose of the HS-11's last year (unbled since 2003 as well) had to replace the hose (royal pain) and bleed.

3) Changing my XTR 970's from an IS caliper to a post mount, 4 years ago.

I have had 2 sets of XTR 960's never bled them and have 2 set's of 970's only bled the one.
So that's 4 times on 6 pair of hydraulic brakes in 16 years, 3 were for installation/removal, 1 for a broken hose
which was my fault since it went from an 18.5" to a 19.5" frame and was really too short but i was to lazy to fix it (until it broke).

That's why I like hydraulic brakes I find they need very little maintenance, other than adjusting caliper/pads.
I ride my bikes every day I can (even in the winter -20) so I was going to say maybe your back pads are worn, but at 2hrs a weekend,
unless it is all downhill I doubt they are.

[Raging_Bulls]

Sounds like you have a very small leak somewhere. Unfortunately those are very hard to find.

Best solution is to give the brakes a meticulous cleaning and then riding the bike in perfect conditions (sunny weather, roads only and keep the bike upright at all times) until you notice that they start to go again. Then it should be a matter of looking where the oily bits are.
Here's a little tip : throwing a few handfuls of fine sand (the kind you find on the beach or in the desert) at the brakes can help you find the leak. Wherever the sand sticks, there's oil. The top of the sticky area is usually where the leak is.

Of course you'll need to fix the problem and properly clean the brakes afterwards to get rid of any sand.

[Discusman]

It's time to save for a set of new brakes.

[Discusman]

Sounds like you have a very small leak somewhere. Unfortunately those are very hard to find.

Best solution is to give the brakes a meticulous cleaning and then riding the bike in perfect conditions (sunny weather, roads only and keep the bike upright at all times) until you notice that they start to go again. Then it should be a matter of looking where the oily bits are.
Here's a little tip : throwing a few handfuls of fine sand (the kind you find on the beach or in the desert) at the brakes can help you find the leak. Wherever the sand sticks, there's oil. The top of the sticky area is usually where the leak is.

Of course you'll need to fix the problem and properly clean the brakes afterwards to get rid of any sand.

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, the brakes are no longer in production and I doubt I can find any replacement parts for it even if I did find the leak.

[Raging_Bulls]

It might be a case of replacing some oil rings or gaskets, or replacing the hose itself.
So I wouldn't worry about the availability of parts before you find out where exactly the problem lies. Just try to locate it first, and take it from there.