Stainless brake line routing

ANyone have any pictures of how they routed their stainless brake lines? I am ordering pre-made galfers and am spazzing a little bit about ordering the wrong length-it appears to depend a lot on how I route the left side. If anyone out there has an LTD with superbike bars and can remember the lengths of dual lines that you used, that would be very appreciated too!

the bottem ones are about 18" to center for short one and about 18 1/4 " center to center for longer one,hope this helps.

So, I take it that you ended up keeping the splitter, not running dual lies from the MC. I'm sure it will cost more, but I'm thinking about doing it so that I can be sure that the thing fits.

you want to run 2 seperate lines all the way from the mastercylinder?thats gonna be awful pricey aint it?youll need a special banjo bolt for mastercylinder also.:whistle: goodluck,happy wrenching!

I tried both ways (eliminating the splitter).

I ran two lines from the master (one to each caliper). Let's call this the "parallel" method.

On another bike i ran one line from master to right caliper, then another line from right caliper to left caliper. Let's call this the "series" method.

Theoretically, the parallel method should be slightly better since both calipers will be under the same pressure while fluid is moving. (Obviously they will be under the same static pressure eventually, just the dynamics will be different.) This supposedly gives a better feel or better "feedback", according to my road-racer friend.

The real problem I noticed is that it is harder to get all of the air out of the lines in the parallel method. So the series method ended up feeling more solid to me.

I think the series method also looks better. Since I'm not racing, and not using a power-bleeder, the series method is better for me.

So why is it harder to bleed the parallel setup? Because the double-banjo bolt is at the top of the fluid lines. The top of the arch in the banjo fitting can hide a tiny air bubble in it, if the bolt's fluid-hole is pointing down toward the banjo's exit.

When I bleed the brakes, I take the calipers off and rest them on a table just below the level of the master cylinder (I put in a block to prevent the piston from popping out). This way air and fluid travels sideways instead of down. This reduces the tendency for the air bubbles to work their way back to the master.

Using this method, I can rotate the calipers to get every air bubble out to the bleeder. This means if the double banjo bolt is on the caliper, I can get the air out of it by moving the caliper around. (You can't do this if the double banjo bolt is on the master.)

The series method uses a little less tubing (so there is a little less tubing to expand).

I changed the "parallel" bike to "series" to confirm that it was the tubing layout and not something in the master or calipers that made it feel better.

I should emphasize, to me, the difference in feel was very subtle between the two routing methods. Since the difference was so small, I probably would have chosen series just for looks anyway.

On a race bike with modern brakes and no banjos (apparently banjos lose a little of the feedback feel so straight fittings are used), the difference may have been more noticeable.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/02/25 21:41

ive never thought of doing it that way,once i get that far along ill give it a try!

Well, just a little late. I went ahead and ordered the dual lines (both because they were cheaper and seemed better in theory). $94 for dual lines and banjo versus $127 to get 3 lines and use the splitter. However, the bleeding aspect never really crossed my mind, I actually thought the less connections the better and the dual lines have less. Oh well, another overly stressful project = less riding. Hooray!??!

Just out of curiosity....where'd ya order the Stainless lines from and what did they run ya (ballpark). Been kicking this idea around myself..

THe place is called cyclebrakes and they are down the street from Galfer, so they put out the custom kits for Galfer systems (in fact, when I sent an email to Galfer, they sent it over to them). Since my bike has non-stock bars and a Suzuki master I had priced out the cost of making my own from Goodrich parts (from JPCycle) and while the lines are cheaper, the ends (at $10 per) really add up, so I went and ordered them to be made. They have a website that explains how to order them, but I would also call their 800 number. The dual lines (41" and 44", and new bolts and washers) was $104 delivered. Pricey, but there didn't appear to be a way around it unless I wanted to learn how to make my own and the risks are high enough without going that route, too.