Braided line questions

[McKilla Guerilla]

I have braided front brake lines on my 85, will they work on the 89 up brakes? I plan to do my fork swap in the next week or so, I don't want to use the rubber lines that are on my parts bike.

Also if I'm upgrading my clutch hose should I run the whole length in steel braid or retain the hard steel line?

One last Q, should I bother replacing my rear hose with steel braid just for the match? I have to be honest, I don't spend a whole lot of time using my rear brake.

[aviationfred]

I can answer the question about the clutch line. The Galfer braided clutch line eliminates the stock hard line.

Fred

[ribbert]

Also if I'm upgrading my clutch hose should I run the whole length in steel braid or retain the hard steel line?

One last Q, should I bother replacing my rear hose with steel braid just for the match? I have to be honest, I don't spend a whole lot of time using my rear brake.

I can't make a case for upgrading the clutch or rear brake lines for function. The pressure in the clutch line is never going to exceed the force needed to operate the clutch, which is constant and not much. Even if there is a bit of swelling when using it, eliminating that is only going to reduce feed in microscopically to no advantage and it is already solid past the motor with a bit of hose each end.

The rear brake. I can't see when you would ever apply a lot of force to it. The faster you need to stop the bike, the less rear brake you need as the wheel un weights. For normal braking you only need it settle the bike not slow it down so much and for low speed maneuvering, the last thing I want is a rear brake that's too touchy.

An FJ at maximum braking will have the back wheel so near to off the ground ( if not off it) that any rear brake at all will have the wheel chattering.

If you are talking about appearance, go for it, they look great. I guess at some point I will replace my rear brake line just for this reason, but it's well down the list.

Noel

[Tiger]

  I did the whole lot on my '85, including the anti-dive lines, for $145.85 + tax, last year 

Check it out here...

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=8489.msg78766#msg78766

I'm happy to get rid of 28 year old lines for safety, efficiency and looks reasoning

John.

[FJ Flyer]

I have braided lines on my '87 and they worked fine when I upgraded to the '89 sliders and R1 master.  Just had to flip the line from the master to the splitter to get a better angle for the banjo on the master.

There was a guy on the Yahoo list way back when that made braided kits, so I got the front brake lines, clutch line, and rear brake line as part of the kit.

[McKilla Guerilla]

A lot of good responses, Thanks guys. I'm very glad that I can use the lines I have for my 89 forks and a big thanks to Tiger, that company in the great white north looks like a pretty good deal if I do decide to go clutch & rear brake. as long as they will ship to a Yankee 

[Tiger]

as long as they will ship to a Yankee 

...of course, this is Canada...we're not prejudice  ...

John.

p s glad that I could be of help...

[fintip]

The better your front forks are, the more rear break you will be able to use... The question is, will you be rebuilding/upgrading the forks themselves, or just swapping them?

Coming from a dirtbike background, I'm used to using a lot of rear brake. Unfortunately, my rear caliper has been stuck for some time now, so until I can afford a rebuild kit and some pads, I've been learning to use only the front brake. Not a huge adaption, but I do miss being able to use my rear, and definitely feel the limitations this imposes.

[McKilla Guerilla]

The forks I'm swapping in were recently rebuilt (last season, prob 5k miles ago) by my friend that I got the bike from, complete with progressive rate springs set up for my weight class. (He is 250, I'm 205 so close enough)

The forks I'm running now are stock anti-dives that are BLOWN with 36k miles of hard riding. I can hear air rush out of them when I lean on the bars @ rest. I can't wait to do my swap.