Topic: Metal brake line section, is it necessary?

[jason teamshralp]

I'm ordering a stainless steal brake hose, and was wondering if I could run the ss hose straight to the caliper using a banjo and a bolt? Or is the metal section of hose serving a purpose?

This is what I was going to go with:

master cylinder to, single brake line switch/bolt, an upper banjo, 30" of SS hose, a lower banjo, and a bolt, into the caliper.

Would this work? or don I need to get a shorter hose and fit it to the metal section of hose?

[gregimotis]

On the 'F' model, the metal section houses the brake light switch.
  Other than that, I know people here have done away with it after installing later model brake controls with switch on-board.

[jason teamshralp]

It's a CB550K so the switch is up on the lower triple tree. I've seen newer bike set up this way and wanted to make sure the older brakes would still work.

Thanks for the quick response. Off to order the new stuff.

[OldSchool_IsCool]

No, not required.  Your choices are a drilling out the taper at the bottom of the caliper mounting hole so that a banjo & bolt will fit, or use a special fitting like the one in the pic below.  I got my brake lines from Spiegler.

[cwchan]

No, not required.  Your choices are a drilling out the taper at the bottom of the caliper mounting hole so that a banjo & bolt will fit, or use a special fitting like the one in the pic below.  I got my brake lines from Spiegler.

Hi,

The Spiegler website has a bunch on numbered fittings.  Is it fitting #520?

Thanks

[flybox1]

support forum members...
when my lines need an upgrade, i'm going here.

http://slingshot-cycles.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1&zenid=4293e493499b35b055c647d006e92c8a

[GammaFlat]

I got my line from Spiegler.  The guy there was great.  While we chatted, he was able to figure out exactly what I needed.  

[mrrch]

I order mine from Slingshot this morning. I had requested longer lower lines to eliminate the metal line as well. Shaun said no problem.

[GammaFlat]

I order mine from Slingshot this morning. I had requested longer lower lines to eliminate the metal line as well. Shaun said no problem.

I came close to eliminating the "hard line" at the bottom (maybe I should have).  I did eliminate the junction box which has the brake switch in it.  I used a K8 master cylinder which has the switch built in (all prior years do not).  The effect is that you can have one continuous line from the master cylinder to the hard line (instead of 2 with a stopover at the junction box).  This is about half the cost. 

It might be better still to go all the way from the MC to the caliper (skipping the junction box and the hard line).  It's great that we have custom brake lines available.  I got my stainless line with a black coating on it which has a different look than factory... it's thinner and kinda glossy.  I'm okay with that though. 

[754]

 Come on guys, take the big leap... and try a 1pce brakeline..!!

 If you want to get truly radical, you can even  eliminate the banjos   ..

 Who knows, it may be the first step of actually owning a custom bike....

[mrrch]

Let's see this one-piece one into two hose

[TwoTired]

I like to keep the hard line.  The original setup allows no side loads on the caliper pivot which would increase brake drag and delay/prevent pad release from the disk.

All the "direct line to the caliper" set ups I've seen, allow line flex/bias to exert side pressure on the caliper, inducing brake drag if not while the bike is stationary, then when the bike is experiencing lateral forces on the roads.

Just because the direct line is "easier" doesn't make it a better solution.