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Rear brake

Melroy

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I was wondering if it is worth my while, or is it just a myth about stainless braided brake lines giving a better/harder braking. My rear brake, while it certainly stops the bike, always feels soft. I have bled it and bled it untll I've bled. Also rebuilt the calliper and installed new brake fluid. This is not a new condition, but one I would like to improve. The front wheel has braided stainless brake lines (dual caliper) and when I hit that brake it is there right now and stays firm.
 
I would like to hear other opinions on this,but in my opinion on a street vehicle stainless braided flex lines will give you no advantage where we used to use them on the racecar because the extreme heat would blow the flex lines apart
 
IMO, the stainless jackets on the flex lines will help but as far as how much the average person would notice it, that's negligible. It's not going to make that much of a difference either on the rear because the rear isn't applied as the front is without locking it up so the benefit wouldn't be realized as much on the rear as the front.
 
if this is on your '93 and you got the original brake line, I think just changing them might help. they do get old and start to have more give with time. 15 years is a long life for a flexible brake line.
 
if this is on your '93 and you got the original brake line, I think just changing them might help. they do get old and start to have more give with time. 15 years is a long life for a flexible brake line.

The nylon cord in a flex line will swell in time,but the only noticable thing will be a 1/4 oz. drop in the resevoir ,if that
 
Actually, it does give a noticeable difference. SS brake hoses expand less than rubber brake hoses. You wouldn't think it would, but on a car, a brake hose can be roughly 12" to 24" long. The slight expansion difference between them is multiplied by 4, so it will give you a noticeable difference.IMO
 
Most people can't feel any difference but at that age, replace the line and go with stainless. you should see some difference just replacing the line, the stainless won't hurt anything.
 
A litlle confused on this subject.

I was always lead to believe that the front brakes provided 75% or greater stopping power over the rear brakes because of the shift in weight as the front brakes are applied. I would think that the rear breaks which only provide 30% stopping power would be softer to prevent a rear lock up.
 
The steel braided brake line is slightly stiffer than standard rubber/fiber corded hose which came as standard equipment. Easy way to check right regular rubber brake hose: wrap your left hand around it, and squeeze the right lever with your right hand firm, feel the brake hose swell...now remember this is all along full length of rubber hose all the way down to the caliper, (simply fluid hydralics)...this is what contributes to the mushy feel. Do the same with a bike with steel braided hose and very little swell is felt, and the lever feels firmer.

As far as the foot operated rear, the pedal/lever/linkage flex contributes so much more to the mushiness than the rubber/fiber corded hose, so very little benefit is gained here. Matter of fact, Harley does not provide their Diamondback sheathed braided rear brake line probably because the benefit is so much less and more costly to make the combo formed metal and braided line used on my Sporty.

Since I use the rear brake less anyway, it just provide some stopping and helps equalize (level) the chassis attitude (dive during heavy braking) of only 30% of your braking in the rear, so I did not even bother replacing it. I can still mash down on the pedal in spite of the mushiness and induce a rear wheel skid, so feel or stopping power is not an issue.
 
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Thanks for all the input. It never dawned on me that the brake line was 15 years old. :( I guess I got old too, and forgetful. Well, I put it on the list of things to do to the bike this winter. I know I'm riding an "antique" compared to what seems like everyone else's newer bikes on this forum. But, it's all I have, and as long as it keeps starting, I'm gonna ride it. :)

Thanks again to everyone on this forum. I search thru it almost daily and pick up all kinds of tidbits.
 
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