Should hydraulic braked bikes remain upright always?

[Mars]

From my other thread, you can see I'm intending to hang all of our bikes on the garage wall from their front wheels but I had a thought about my own bike that perhaps I shouldn't. It has hydraulic discs and I wondered/worried that if I suspended any way other than upright for a length of time, the hydraulic fluid would tend to drain from the caliper and back into the reservoir, as the air in the res makes its way to the clapper.

Is this scenarios likely, so should I consider alternative hanging arrangements for my bike?

[walm]

I thought they were sealed systems without any air in them, just hydraulic fluid?

[y2blade]

what air in the reservoir?

[Vladimir]

Shouldn't be any air in the entire system - if there is, they need bleeding pronto.

Store your bike any way you want- won't affect the brakes.

[y2blade]

Vladimir said:

Shouldn't be any air in the entire system - if there is, they need bleeding pronto.

Store your bike any way you want- won't affect the brakes.

this^^^

I thought it was a trick question at first, hence my deleted "jokey" reply

[mackie1]

It can affect forks with hydraulic damping but normally it only takes a few compression cycles to get the oil back to when it needs to be.

[y2blade]

mackie1 said:

It can affect forks with hydraulic damping but normally it only takes a few compression cycles to get the oil back to when it needs to be.

he asked about the brakes!....the forks will be fine by the time he's ridden it out of his drive

[Mr E]

My bikes get chucked down trails, chucked in the back of cars, stored upside down and generally abused.

As long as you remember to fit the little plastic bits if you pull the wheels off, I've never had a problem.

[Mars]

Ahah, thanks all. This is one part of my bike I haven't had any real involvement with to date. Thanks for the reply - it makes my storage intentions much simpler now.

[y2blade]

Mars said:

Ahah, thanks all. This is one part of my bike I haven't had any real involvement with to date. Thanks for the reply - it makes my storage intentions much simpler now.

no problem

[OneDs]

Mars said:

Ahah, thanks all. This is one part of my bike I haven't had any real involvement with to date. Thanks for the reply - it makes my storage intentions much simpler now.

Mars I store my bikes in the exact way you do and have done for two years, no issues with the hydraulic discs whatsoever. As has been said, if there is air in there, you'll know about it, storage angle wouldn't change that because as soon as you turn the bike the right way up the air would go back to the top.

Anyway hope that allays your fears.

Edit TBH my only real fear with doing it this way, is I'll twang a spoke so the wheel will go out of true putting it on or off, or the weight on the rim isn't a good idea, but so far no evidence of that being a problem either.

Edited by OneDs on Wednesday 18th May 14:03

[Fluffsri]

I had a garage that was very tight and only allowed me to store the bikes upside down. All was good (im 99% sure on this) untill a mate squeezed the levers while upside down. The next time I went out I had no brakes. I posted on a forum and the cure was to zip tie the levers closed over night. Worked a treat!

[rhinochopig]

mackie1 said:

It can affect forks with hydraulic damping but normally it only takes a few compression cycles to get the oil back to when it needs to be.

I was told there is some benefit to upending your bike every so often if it's been stood for a while as it lubricates the upper fork seals. Could of course be utter slobllocks

[Mars]

I've just been reading up on how they work, and how to bleed them. I wrongly assumed the reservoir would be only part full, like in a car.

Quite interesting reading.

[deadtom]

the reservoir does contain air - sort of. the reservoir allows the oil to expand as it gets hot without it forcing the pistons out. It does this by having a rubber diaphragm between the oil and the open space; as the oil expands as it heats up it expands into the open space.
there is only an open channel between the caliper/hose/master cylinder and the reservoir when the brake lever is not being pulled, the first little bit of movement closes this channel and seals the system allowing pressure to be applied to the pistons.

all being well, storing your bike upside down wont affect the brakes, the only time it might is if there are air bubbles in the reservoir which can then migrate into the master cylinder when the bike is inverted. if this is the case your brake needs bleeding anyway.

[Mars]

Fascinating stuff - many thanks for that. I am an engineer at heart and I totally love the precision manufacturing that goes into bike hydraulic braking systems.

[Trevelyan]

Strange. The instructions which came with my Shimano brakes warned me against turning the bike upside down for exactly this reason. Over winter my bike was stored upside down most of the time and I seemed to get noticably worse braking performance for a day or two after turning the bike back the right way up. Perhaps it's a quirk of the model of brakes I've got - I'll try and find the instructions later to see what they actually say.

[Mars]

Trevelyan said:

Strange. The instructions which came with my Shimano brakes warned me against turning the bike upside down for exactly this reason. Over winter my bike was stored upside down most of the time and I seemed to get noticably worse braking performance for a day or two after turning the bike back the right way up. Perhaps it's a quirk of the model of brakes I've got - I'll try and find the instructions later to see what they actually say.

I thought I'd read something similar about my Tektro Dracos too but after starting this thread I looked-out the manual, and I can't find any such reference.

Oh well, perhaps ignorance is bliss anyway? I'd really like to hang all the bikes together so it brings happiness and good karma to my garage.