Topic: Brake hoses - Stock or stainless steel?

[Stev-o]

I prefer the look of the black OEM style, the small diameter ss lines look puny. Do they make a larger diameter ss line?

[bjbuchanan]

You could make the line look bigger with a thicker outer sheath but you don't want to make the ID physically larger

[grcamna2]

How many of us members have changed MC's to a different size piston which gives a better ratio to the amount of 'bite' the lever has on the caliper? I'm going to install a MC w/ a smaller piston on my CB400F(when I Finally get it put together...future planning...  )and I hope that it'll give me a more gradual and progressive 'feel'. 

[kajtek]

When researching mc to piston ratio i found a table that gave the optimum mc size for the 38mm piston as between 11 and 12 mm (stock is 14). I chose an 11mm mc from some sort of scooter. This combined with ss lines gave much better braking with increased feel (i found stock to be too wooden). Next steps eventually will be EBC pads.

[Terry in Australia]

Ya, I understand the difference between feel and stopping power thanks mate.
I don't think you understand the term "I'm not biased". But sounds as if you like playing with rubber things in your hand, and that's cool.

I'm not sure what you mean mate, I'm certainly not dissing braided lines, I've got them on my Triumph Rocket III as standard and they're great, and I've installed them on several bikes as well, so I'm certainly not biased, I'm just relating my experiences with braided lines not necessarily being the magic bullet in all cases.

Sorry if you took offence to my post, sometimes your intent can be lost in the written word. Cheers, Terry.

[dave500]

sometimes it can be lost in your hand?

[grcamna2]

When researching mc to piston ratio i found a table that gave the optimum mc size for the 38mm piston as between 11 and 12 mm (stock is 14). I chose an 11mm mc from some sort of scooter. This combined with ss lines gave much better braking with increased feel (i found stock to be too wooden). Next steps eventually will be EBC pads.

kajtek,
How did you go about finding the MC psiton dia. spec. ? I mean to research it ? I'd like to do that also & from what I've seen(so far)the only way I could tell was a casting mark on the housing of a few MC's. I'd like to look into a few different types and sizes of good used MC's. 

[kajtek]

Check out http://www.vintagebrake.com/mastercylinder.htm

I basically walked around a bunch of bikes looking at the casting on the mc (pretty obvious) then went on ebay to get a second hand one. I think mine came from a burgman 400 scooter.

[grcamna2]

Yeah,that'll work 

[Terry in Australia]

sometimes it can be lost in your hand?

Yeah mate, especially in really cold weather?

[grcamna2]

sometimes it can be lost in your hand?

Yeah mate, especially in really cold weather?

lol stay away from rubber hoses 

[vik351]

I've got bikes with SS braided lines, and I've got bikes with rubber hoses, so I'm not biased one way or another, but no-one here should compare new braided lines with 40 year old rubber lines, that's comparing apples with oranges.

New rubber lines work fine, and are a huge improvement over 40 year old rubber lines. A problem with braided lines that I've found, is that they take a lot of the "feel" out of your brakes, and give them a very "wooden" feeling at the lever, so I purposely bought rubber hoses for my GL1000 front end conversion.

SS lines are also a biatch to bleed compared to rubber hoses, I presume (but don't know for sure) that most braided stainless hoses have a smaller ID than OEM rubber hoses. 

Either option is good, new braided lines or new rubber hoses, it just depends on your personal preference, there's really not that much difference between either. Cheers, Terry.

FMD...

Alot of cooling and fins going on there FFS...!!!

vik... and stopping... 

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I still miss that old rocket, I swapped it with a young bloke for a VTR1000R SP1 (RC51in the US) back in 2017, so had to quickly build another K2 "Bitsa" to cure my CB750 withdrawal.

I must take the SP1 for a ride again, I'm 150 pounds lighter than I was when I rode it last......

[cb650PK]

Yeah mate, I still miss that old rocket, I swapped it with a young bloke for a VTR1000R SP1 (RC51in the US) back in 2017, so had to quickly build another K2 "Bitsa" to cure my CB750 withdrawal.

I must take the SP1 for a ride again, I'm 150 pounds lighter than I was when I rode it last......

Terry, do you remember the front fender on the GL1000 front end? I presume it's not stock.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, I still miss that old rocket, I swapped it with a young bloke for a VTR1000R SP1 (RC51in the US) back in 2017, so had to quickly build another K2 "Bitsa" to cure my CB750 withdrawal.

I must take the SP1 for a ride again, I'm 150 pounds lighter than I was when I rode it last......

Terry, do you remember the front fender on the GL1000 front end? I presume it's not stock.

Yeah mate, it' the GL1000 bracket with a CB750F fender rivetted on. Not a perfect match, but looked good from 10 feet away.

[spotty]

I've got bikes with SS braided lines, and I've got bikes with rubber hoses, so I'm not biased one way or another, but no-one here should compare new braided lines with 40 year old rubber lines, that's comparing apples with oranges.

New rubber lines work fine, and are a huge improvement over 40 year old rubber lines. A problem with braided lines that I've found, is that they take a lot of the "feel" out of your brakes, and give them a very "wooden" feeling at the lever, so I purposely bought rubber hoses for my GL1000 front end conversion.

SS lines are also a biatch to bleed compared to rubber hoses, I presume (but don't know for sure) that most braided stainless hoses have a smaller ID than OEM rubber hoses. 

Either option is good, new braided lines or new rubber hoses, it just depends on your personal preference, there's really not that much difference between either. Cheers, Terry.

FMD...

Alot of cooling and fins going on there FFS...!!!

vik... and stopping... 

thats one clean and tidy driveway there terrance, don't look like that any more does it ?

[Terry in Australia]

Haha, I had a boss once who walked into my office and looked at my cluttered desk and said, " a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind" to which I replied, "so what do you call a fcuking empty desk?"

[vik351]

Haha, I had a boss once who walked into my office and looked at my cluttered desk and said, " a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind" to which I replied, "so what do you call a fcuking empty desk?"

LOL ... well,didnt sack ya then... musta thought you were worth it, nah, gov job aint it...

cant sack ya 

vik... 

[Terry in Australia]

It was an army posting actually Vik, and he was an officer who was used to dishing it out, but not so much getting it back, so he took a couple of steps back and opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out. I asked him if there was anything else I could help him with, and he shook his head and fcuked off, which saved me suggesting just that. He didn't ever come back into my office after that.......

[vik351]

It was an army posting actually Vik, and he was an officer who was used to dishing it out, but not so much getting it back, so he took a couple of steps back and opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out. I asked him if there was anything else I could help him with, and he shook his head and fcuked off, which saved me suggesting just that. He didn't ever come back into my office after that.......

 Yea , I know the ones, had a prick like that when I was in the Army Cadets early 70's , the ones everyone hates soon become rank so they can give it to and hide behind that... coulda shot (blanks that was)the \l/ on a drill once cos his 303 was 1/2 cocked and just went click , useless prick didnt have a clue.

Dont worry, he copped it in the end, the good old days... 

vik...

[Terry in Australia]

Uggghhh, I spent a few years working with Army cadets Vik, and as much as I liked most of the kids (there were some exceptions) the "Officers of Cadets" (mums and dads, school teachers, various pedophiles etc) were possibly the lowest form of humanity I have encountered in 42 years of military service. I'm glad that's behind me..........

[MauiK3]

I put dual discs on my 750 K3 and replaced the brake lines with Slingshot SS, black color. They look stock, mostly. My goal was to not change the master cylinder and my un-scientific opinion is that the rigidity gained with the SS lines partially makes up for the extra volume due to the extra caliper. My brake lever pulls in nicely and does not get too close to bottoming out. Feel is fine......... for a vintage disc brake system. I think if I bought a modern bike I'd probably do stoppies until I got used to the modern feel.
Also, the Slingshot kit came with monel hard lines from the calipers back to the rubber lines. For those that don't know, monel is a copper nickel alloy that looks great, will not corrode and is just soft enough to assure proper routing. Good stuff.
My K3 750 project was to make a "mostly stock" looking restored 750 with a few non 1973 changes to suit my taste which mostly comes from the 1970 K0 I had back in the day.