Hi Rob, yes the standard hose is short and the welded on bracket could be placed to a more suitable position but thats where it is. (mine was a 1984 kit)
I rearranged the bracket by 'bending' it upwards so the exit of the hose is 'nearer' and less of a bend.
Bleeding wise I took the cylinder off let it hang and compress it, it does help the process.
Recently I had a similar problem with bleeding a disc brake on my scooter, the cure for that was by getting a large ish syringe and piece of tubing and pulling the fluid thro' (as suggested by the guy in the scooter shop) but that didn't work satisfactory so, after filling up the syringe I push the fluid back up and that worked!
My Son has this professional reservoir and connects it to the compressor; that sucks the fluid thro' that didn't work!!
I've not recently changed the clutch slave cylinder; but next time I will look for my syringe and give it a try.

MG