Brakes of Old

[fredintoon]

Got the brake lines coming from XJ4ever.com (XJBikes.com). Ordered this morning and were shipped out USPS Priority today. Opted for the rubber rather than SS. Staying with the OEM look.
Mike

Dumb move, Mike!
wouldja fit new tires that had tread made to a 30 year old formula, eh?
S/St brake lines make a real improvement to brake performance and to not use them just for the OEM look is plain foolish, especially when you can't see the difference from 2 feet away if you buy the black ones.

[jetmechmarty]

New brake lines will be a big improvement over the old ones, no matter what option was chosen. OEM style lines won't balloon much when they're new. Our service manual calls for replacement every four years, which is one reason I opted for black coated stainless lines on mine.

[MPittma100]

Too Late

Dumb move, Mike!
wouldja fit new tires that had tread made to a 30 year old formula, eh?
S/St brake lines make a real improvement to brake performance and to not use them just for the OEM look is plain foolish, especially when you can't see the difference from 2 feet away if you buy the black ones.

Too late, the new ones came in the mail today. Wasn't looking for high performance brakes -properly working brakes is the goal. These new rubber lines will be just fine. Only thing wrong with the old ones is that they were the originals - 31 years old and have likely deteriorated on the inside from the looks of the fluid and crud.

[fredintoon]

Too late, the new ones came in the mail today. Wasn't looking for high performance brakes -properly working brakes is the goal. These new rubber lines will be just fine. Only thing wrong with the old ones is that they were the originals - 31 years old and have likely deteriorated on the inside from the looks of the fluid and crud.

Hi Mike,
eat the double cost and buy stainless lines.
Sure, the book is right in that brake lines should be changed every 4 years (does anybody ever DO that?) and Marty's right in saying that new fabric lines will work better than if you kept the originals.
But all you are getting is the brakes the bike had 31 years ago.
The brake improvements that Stainless Steel wire braided lines will give may make the difference between you sending angry posts about inconsiderate drivers and you being another notch on a soccer mom's cell-phone.

[MPittma100]

Shamed

Hi Mike,
eat the double cost and buy stainless lines.
Sure, the book is right in that brake lines should be changed every 4 years (does anybody ever DO that?) and Marty's right in saying that new fabric lines will work better than if you kept the originals.
But all you are getting is the brakes the bike had 31 years ago.
The brake improvements that Stainless Steel wire braided lines will give may make the difference between you sending angry posts about inconsiderate drivers and you being another notch on a soccer mom's cell-phone.

Well Fred, you shamed me into buying the SS braided lines (with black sheathing) for the Venturer. It all started out as a simple front tire replacement. Next thing you know I replaced all front brake lines, brake pads, wheel bearings, rebuilt calipers and master cylinder, changed fork oil, and cleaned and lubed speedo drive and cable. Ready to ride. Some pix of the completed endeavor.


Mike

[MPittma100]

Brake Pix

[MPittma100]

Brake Pix

[Rasputin]

Just wondering where you ordered the lines from and how they fit and all the usual questions. Were you satisfied with the installation and parts supplied with them. Are they marked DOT or are they a racing only product? Just asking cause they look familiar.

[skids]

That is a lot of work that should raise your comfort level.

[MPittma100]

XJbikes.com

Just wondering where you ordered the lines from and how they fit and all the usual questions. Were you satisfied with the installation and parts supplied with them. Are they marked DOT or are they a racing only product? Just asking cause they look familiar.

These are the ones from XJbikes.com. If you go to that site, you will also see XJ4ever.com. This is where they list their parts. I emailed them and they showed me all of the available parts that they carry for the XS11s.

They have rubber and stainless steel brake lines. The ss lines can be gotten with different colors of sheathing on them. I chose black to look closest to stock.

I bought all three front and both rear lines. The OE rear line is two rubber along with one steel in the middle. They have the two rubber/ss replacement lines or a single line that replaces the three.

The lines come packaged as to which line goes where and a red taped end indicating how it is to be installed. All of the banjo ends were bent exactly correct, hoses lengths were perfect, and the rubber grommets for the hold down brackets are on the new lines. They are marked DOT approved. They send a decal with the paper work indicating DOT compliance also. They sell the copper washers separately.

It was a total plug and play, no modifications, installation.

Mike

[MPittma100]

I Agree

That is a lot of work that should raise your comfort level.

That is for sure. I know that the bike was parked for 10 years by original owner's son after his dad passed. The person I got it from spent $1400 getting it mechanically fit. Nothing had been done to the brakes hydraulically. There was much crud and one pitted caliper piston. Front pads were original and had some more available wear, but they were replaced anyway.

I look forward to riding for a long time before anything else needs any attention.

Mike

[trbig]

When I went for the stainless lines on my bike, I had to totally re-learn the brakes. It took a few days to where I didn't dive the nose down when I stopped because they're so much more responsive. It's got nothing to do with "High performance", it's got to do with simply having brakes that stop a very heavy bike well. AND... I have no idea why you guys are paying that much for brake lines. You can buy universal line for about a dollar an inch, and the 10m banjo ends are 10-12 bucks a piece. Buying pre-made setups complete in a box specifically for a certain bike is like buying pre-cut up fruit, de-cored and packaged up instead of spending 1/4 of the cost and just buying an apple.

[IanDMacDonald]

I just might do that Todd.

[3Phase]

Insurance and Personal Liability

... I have no idea why you guys are paying that much for brake lines.

Tod, it has nothing to do with the cost-per-inch of the brake hoses so I'll write it again: Insurance and Personal Liability.

The brake hoses and fittings themselves may or may not have DOT approval and can be superior in every way to the O.E.M. assemblies but the new brake hose assembly is not DOT certified even if it's made with approved components.

You may not know how many lawyers it would take for them to kick your case... but I can tell you how many they're going to use. The insurance company can deny any claims because you modified the bike and it should not have been out in public. It's basically open season on you and everything you used to own for every attorney on the planet and that's a handy piece of information to have right there.

Even if you or your heirs win in court it can cost several orders of magnitude more time, money and aggravation than it would have cost to buy DOT-certified assemblies.

.

[TomB]

one side can be easily popped off with a jewelers screwdriver to add a bit more grease and then reinstalled. When I recently replaced mine, I added some marine grease to the small amount of grease that came with the bearing.

Sorry to make a comment on an old post Phil, just to say Castrol warned us (large global pharmaceutical site) about adding more grease to bearings, it causes over heating and premature bearing failure, the "sealed for life bearings" come with the optimum amount of grease for maximum bearing life. We changed out thousands of manually greased machinery bearings to "sealed for life" saving the company hundreds of thousands $$$$ every year. They are that good.