stainless brake lines

ST Dan

ST Dan

2 summers 50k+ miles 48 states
Joined
Aug 11, 2006
Messages
224
Location
Canton, MI
Bike
14 NC700X
considering putting stainless steel brake lines on my ST, it's an 07, I checked both speigler and galfer...but neither seems to carry lines for the 1300... I know I've seen bikes with them on...so where did you get yours? I also checked the brakes section here, but couldn't find anything...

TIA :D
 
I recently investigated this as well as I wanted less expansion in the brake hoses under hard braking.

What I learned is that no one makes them for the ST1300 because of the linked braking system and amount of lines. There was a member on this site that found a manufacturer that would make them provided the rider sent in the hoses so that the manufacturer could fabricate them. To find that member and manufacturer, do a search on stainless steel lines in the Brakes section of this site.
 
i tried that Bob...tried several different search phrases, plus went thru the entire sub forum and never found anything like that....
 
thanks guys!

Rob, they're about $150 there US...not too bad...I had found a different hel site, but they didn't have them listed...:rolleyes:

Bob, on a side note, I checked my valves yesterday, all the exhausts had loosened some, but all were still in spec...almost 14000 miles. the intakes were all still good! thanks again!
 
ST Dan said:
thanks guys!

Rob, they're about $150 there US...not too bad...I had found a different hel site, but they didn't have them listed...:rolleyes:

Bob, on a side note, I checked my valves yesterday, all the exhausts had loosened some, but all were still in spec...almost 14000 miles. the intakes were all still good! thanks again!
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Glad the valve clearances are in good shape.

I thought that price seemed too good for stainless brake lines so I looked at hdlparts.com to see how many hoses there are and the OEM cost. From the diagram it looks like a total of 10 hoses for $296. That includes 6 front hoses for a cost of $204 (4-$28, 5-$17, 7-$27, 8-$43, 11-$57, and 13-$32) and 4 rear hoses for a cost of $92 (3-$24, 5-$22, 6-$24, 8-$22).

Not sure exactly what you would get from that vender for $150.
 
RCS said:
I recently investigated this as well as I wanted less expansion in the brake hoses under hard braking.

What I learned is that no one makes them for the ST1300 because of the linked braking system and amount of lines. There was a member on this site that found a manufacturer that would make them provided the rider sent in the hoses so that the manufacturer could fabricate them. To find that member and manufacturer, do a search on stainless steel lines in the Brakes section of this site

HEL brake loins company makes them for abs and non-and st1300 bikes. Not cheap at $735 / abs and $686 / non-abs. As of 08Oct2022. At least we have the option to get them. Now I have to justify to myself why I need them. Lol!
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RCS said:
I thought that price seemed too good for stainless brake lines so I looked at hdlparts.com to see how many hoses there are and the OEM cost. From the diagram it looks like a total of 10 hoses for $296. That includes 6 front hoses for a cost of $204 (4-$28, 5-$17, 7-$27, 8-$43, 11-$57, and 13-$32) and 4 rear hoses for a cost of $92 (3-$24, 5-$22, 6-$24, 8-$22).

Not sure exactly what you would get from that vender for $150.
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On a bike with a simpler braking system, replacing the two front brake lines with stainless makes sense. Not a lot of money, and a noticeable difference in braking feel.

On a bike with a 10-hose system, I'd be willing to bet that more than half of those hoses will provide no improvement at all by switching to stainless. So unless its the look you're going for, and you don't care about braking feel, its probably mostly a waste of money.

I put them on my ST1100 almost immediately after buying the bike, but mine doesn't have ABS, SMCs, etc. to contend with.
 
Back in '95 I put braided lines on a Moto Guzzi. It took me and my friend (who built and raced these bikes as an amateur) three days to bleed them. I'm not saying that braided lines are more difficult to bleed than others, but the Guzzi had a linked system and bubbles seemed to lodge in the system. We were NOT using power bleeding equipment.
 
OEM brake lines have short shelf lives and break down over time. Having had one let go once, I put stainless steel lines on every bike, as soon as it rolls into the garage. No exceptions.

Having never owned a bike with linked or ABS brakes, I can’t speak to the feel improvement, though I doubt there would be.

It’s that sudden collapse of the brake lever I never want to feel again.
 
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