After 3 weeks of trying, I finally have a working back brake on my 2001 Rev3! Praise be!

What did I do? What DIDN'T I do more like! In the end, I took a deep breath and devoted a lot of patient time to it:

• Carefully strip, clean and rebuild the system so you are certain there are no leaks.
  Fill from the bleed nipple upwards keeping the caliper low and the master cylinder high. Turn the master cylinder over so the reservior fill is the highest point. Do this with a big syringe and use at least 2 syringe's full. One point; when filling make sure you have the syringe pointing downwards and you have let any air in it rise to the top. Otherwise you fill the system with bubbles!
  I released the rear shock top mount so I could route the caliper out of the frame next to the reservior. That way I could tie the caliper up high and minimise the natural 'n' bend that the hose follows as it exits the master cylinder (this is an airlock point).
  Take the bashplate off; you get a bit more pedal movement (Some suggested operating the master cylinder with a rod, but I found this bl00dy hard as I couldn't hold it in AND release the bleed nipple)
  Make sure there is a little freeplay between the operating rod and the master cylinder so the master cylinder can refill.
  Bleed as normal. Don't get frustrated and mash the pedal, but do do it fairly quickly (get a rhythm going '1-2 release, 1-2 release' etc). If you do this too slowly, any traped air in areas where there is a bend will not be purged, but will return to the highest point.
  Be patient. I had to chug half a litre of fluid through before I was certain the air was out (and I still think there's a couple of tiny bubbles left!)
  

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. Copemech's advice of opening the banjo bolt at the top of the master cylinder (with this point highest) a tiny amount to purge the air worked to a degree too, but I was fed up with being covered in brake fluid by then!

It defies logic as to why this brake is so prone to bleeding issues; I'll be dead reluctant to strip it again!

Graham

Ok i will get some pics up soon and some instructions,

The original idead was placed on a power bleeder, I used a cheapo halfords car brake blledibg kit and converted it to be used on a motobike!