Basic Maintenance: Brake Fluid

[Lunchbag]

but is the brake pedal hard, soft, sinking and going down when the nipple is loosened or..???
Was the robber cap missing from the bleeder??

It was soft.  Since I was pressing with my hand I probably didn't notice how soft.

This morning with everything put back together I rode the bike slowly up and down the driveway.  I had already test-ridden after changing the front brake fluid and I knew it was good.  Wanted to check the clutch since I just changed that fluid also, and it worked fine.  The rear brake was soft and did not actuate the brake.  After very many presses it finally firmed up and worked normally.

So I went back to the garage and repeated the fluid replacement on the rear brake and it worked.  I'm not exactly sure why I had trouble with it before.

However I did notice one thing.  After a few pumps of the rear brake lever, the fluid stopped flowing through the tube.  I couldn't figure out why until I noticed that my 5/16 wrench that was on the bleeder valve had swung and closed the valve, due to gravity.  So I held it open with one hand while pumping with the other.  Then I switched to the open-and-close routine on the valve for each pump of the brake lever and this made the fluid move along better.

Another short test with everything together showed all good.  I'll do a longer ride later.  Thanks to all!