Braided brake line problem

I ordered an upper brake line for my KZ1000 from a guy highly recommended on another forum. I sent the $ and asked if he would send crush washers too. No reply.

The brake line arrived today and it looks great. It didn't come with new crush washers, oh well.

Here's the problem. I ordered this line to fit "just right" with my lower-than-stock handlebars. The banjo fittings are not oriented correctly. When I line up the banjo at the master cylinder, the banjo that fits to the brake splitter is about 90 degrees off. In other words, if I can turn the banjo 90 degrees it will bolt on nicely without any twisting of the brake line.

So I sent the guy another e-mail, asking if it's possible for me to rotate the banjo. He hasn't answered yet, I think the answer will be "no".

By twisting the line, that takes up slack and the line may or may not fit.

It's not a fault of the guy who made the line, however since he's the expert I wish he had asked me about the banjo orientation OR suggested I order something a little longer to allow for the twisting.

Well, we'll see what happens. Keep this in mind if you are ordering custom-built lines.

Since there are a number of variants in bikes, handlebars, & master cylinders, it sure seems like the guy should've asked what banjo bolt was needed. But having an old bike, any time something needs to be changed, the bike owner kinda has to take it upon himself to verify everything beforehand.

I ordered Goodridge brake parts from the corner cycle shop that's now gone. Z1Enterprises.com might sell their stuff... too lazy to go look right now. I installed new handlebars first, then figured out what lines & fittings would be needed. A handy way to figure out the desired length of the upper brake line is to disconnect the pipe joint there under the fork cover emblem, lower it until the line looks about right, then subtract the overage... works well, instead of trying to measure w a long zip tie or something & guestimating. My bike didn't come w the neato chrome cable guide that fits on the upper triple tree fork bolt, so I got one of those from a 750-Ltd.

The seller e-mailed today and offered to send me a new one after I send him the old one. He said he used a KZ900 line as a guide. I don't know if the 900 is different from the 1000.

Anyways, the length is okay just the banjo - if it were turned 90 degrees on the hose before being attached, everything would fit fine with no twisting.

Since he's going to make a new line I'll ask for another inch in length to make absolutely sure this one will fit!