Gen 1 FZ1 Rear Brake Adjustment / Bleed

Over the last year I noticed my rear brake was becoming "soft". what I mean by that is I had to push the brake pedal all the way down for full engagement. I thought maybe I needed to flush the fluid out, so I did that.

I am pretty sure I bled all the air our of the bleed nipples, but the end result was worse than before.

A friend thinks I needed to pump the brake pedal 10 times until a lot of pressure builds, hold and then bleed the valve to ensure all the air is out, but no amount of pumping will make the pedal extra hard.

This past weekend I adjusted the engagement on the pedal. I moved the engagement screw about 1 centimeter. Now the pedal engages like it should, I can lock the brakes up under load and it does not push all the way to the floor.

HOWEVER, the brake lever is now higher than I like and I have to really lift my toes to get onto the lever.

I don't feel like my solution is the correct one. What could I be missing? There are no fluid leaks I can find and if there was still air in the lines I don't think my "fix" would have worked.

THoughts?
 
What year is your bike? how many miles?
As your pads wear your lever will need to travel further.
I've got 20,000 on mine(06) with no issues, but I flush my fluids every 2 years.
It may be time for a rebuild.
 
the bike is a 2003, has 122k miles on it. I commute with the bike so it literally is 95% highway miles, very little rear braking is used. I bought the bike with 39k miles on it.

I just checked my maintenance logs and I put new pads on it at 109k, so they only have 11k miles on them. under inspection they have plenty of life on the pads.
Notes show the previous rear pads were replaced at 67k
considering my riding habits have not changed, and I got 42k miles on the set before this one, I should not be expecting to replace the pads until I get to about 150k miles.
 
Does anyone know the life span of the brake line. If the line is expanding, that would make it feel soft. That happened to me on an old Volkswagen once. I think a set of steel lines is around $100. Seems like usually when master cylinders or calipers go bad they come on normal, but bleed off pressure when you're holding. I dunno. Let us know what you figure out. I'm having the same problem with the front brake on my dirt bike now, and haven't decided where to start throwing parts.
 
Does anyone know the life span of the brake line. If the line is expanding, that would make it feel soft. That happened to me on an old Volkswagen once. I think a set of steel lines is around $100. Seems like usually when master cylinders or calipers go bad they come on normal, but bleed off pressure when you're holding. I dunno. Let us know what you figure out. I'm having the same problem with the front brake on my dirt bike now, and haven't decided where to start throwing parts.
I have not done anything with it yet. Once I adjusted the positioning screw at the brake lever all the softness is gone. I have a solid and firm feeling, I can easily lock the rear up if I mash it, everything is working like it should, the brake lever is just a bit higher than before.
 
I have been riding with this adjustment for about a month now. Everything is working good, brake feel is excellent. I will look into a rebuild of the unit in the future.
 
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