I have a V9 roamer 2018, it’s only done 2k miles the rear brake is rubbish and refuses to bleed, Pump pedal, crack open bleed nipple, pump again, stand for a couple of minutes, pedal goes to the floor, start all over again, pedal firm, 2 mins later pedal goes to the floor, Is it the ABS unit full of air? as it sits up high, in desperation I’ve undone and removed the reservoir and held it above the ABS unit and pumped it, still no brake. It’s getting close to and insurance fire claim 
There are several methods to bleed awkward brakes, but I’d start with the simplest. A bit of transparent hose, an eggcupful of brake fluid in a bottle, and an assistant.
The assistant ensures the reservoir is always topped up, and operates the pedal or lever on command, and doesn’t let go until told to either.
Put spanner & transparent pipe on nipple, ensure end of pipe stays submerged in fluid in bottle, open the nipple, say “down”, assistant presses pedal, close nipple, say “up”, assistant releases pedal, repeat as required, topping reservoir as necessary.
Assuming there are no faults in the system, this should pump fluid through the pipe and out of the bleed nipple, and hopefully carry any air with it.
I’m not sure what difference turning the bike on, or not, will make.
Thanks Simon, Done all that several times, I’ve bleed brakes on numerious bikes, I’ve thought about buying one of those gadgets that suck the brake fluid through, my thoughts are with air trapped in the ABS unit, I’m wondering if the ignition needs to be ON to energise the ABS unit, I’m looking for someone who’s experienced this problem and who’s up to speed with the technical side of the ABS system, even just to alleviate it from my theory.
Thank you for your promt replay
I have the V7 850 E5, assuming they’re similar, I looked in the service manual, firstly it says “The bleeding procedure can be performed in a traditional way or using specific tools such as vacuum pumps or similar”, in other words presence of the ABS module needs no special treatment (and I remember reading this before elsewhere).
However I notice in the diagram the rear caliper bleed nipple is underneath, at the bottom of the caliper as it’s normally mounted, now in the disc braked Urals which also have it underneath it’s well known that it is impossible to bleed air out of the caliper unless it is removed and turned upside down so that the bleed nipple is at the top. So that is what I would try next. HTH 
Thanks Mike, I’ve already tried turning it upside down and as high as I could, still without any hint of a brake, Last resort, Tuesday I’m going to order a new rear brake master cylinder.
OK, does suggest something is not right.
Have you tried taking out the bleed valve completely to see if fluid flows easily?
Last resort this morning before buying a new master cylinder, L/H silencer removed to allow the rear caliper once removed from it’s hanger to be raised as high as possible, Eureka!!!, I now have a good rear brake, What a performance to bleed a brake.
Many thanks to all who posted suggestions.
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Performance, but woohoo! Thanks for the update - always useful for future posters, and to know what works.
Good that you’ve sorted it, and as Barry mentioned, great that you’ve told everyone how you sorted it!
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Excellent, so need to make it so that the air goes up. 
I realise I am a bit late here, but I’ll put in a word for a vacuum pump. I bought a Mityvac (whatever was the cheapest model at the time) for an Africa Twin that no ABS or anything, but for some reason had brakes that were a pig to bleed. It was one of those “why didn’t I do this years ago???” moments…
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