Originally Posted by
TimothyH
The brakes felt horrible with the levers going almost all the way to the bar. I repeated the entire process to be sure that there wasn't still air in the system but results were the same. The classic definition of insanity prompted an evening of rereading documentation, watching videos and looking at message boards in an effort to determine what I missed or did incorrectly. Bleeding brakes isn't theoretical astrophysics and something is clearly missing from the process I am using.
-Tim-
Most likely you have air trapped in the caliper. The simplest solution is to use the top down approach, but un-bolt the caliper and move it around a bunch, then make sure the exit nipple is at the highest point on the caliper. In your picture (very helpful), the bleed port is at the bottom, so air will rise to the top of the caliper. You'll be shocked just how much air you had trapped in the caliper.
Tapping the hose can also help dislodge bubbles. Move the caliper around for ~10sec, open the port for 2s, leave it open until you don't get air, close and repeat several times.
Once you get the process down, it's pretty simple.