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Steel braided brake line

Fencingboy

Fencingboy

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I'm looking into replacing the original front brake line on my '79 and I figure I'm gonna go braided stainless steel while I'm at it. I've found a couple options online but I figured I'd make a post to get some opinions on them.

1. Carpy's cafe racers. This one seems good and it's the one I'm leaning towards. the only issue is it says it's for SOHCs. are the brake lines different lengths between single and twin cam? If not, I'll go with it.

2. Spiegler. Another fine option, specifies for 1979. Available in many bright colors of which I would just choose black.

3. Measuring my brake line and ordering a specific length line off the shelf from a quality company.

If either of these options are preferable or should be avoided, I'd love to know. And if anyone knows about the possible difference in line lengths between DOHC/SOHC. Apologies if this is a silly question but I'm new here.
 
I don't know about the differences in length, but I've ordered brake lines a couple of times by measuring myself, and it has always worked out just fine. It has been a while, but I think I chose swivel fittings so I could tweak the orientation of the line during installation.
 
Spiegler is what I went with, like atravis saidmain reason is fittings are adjustable which helps with installation and fitting orientation for your liking. I order them through STG.
 
Bo82CB said:
Spiegler is what I went with, like atravis saidmain reason is fittings are adjustable which helps with installation and fitting orientation for your liking. I order them through STG.
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just ordered one off STG. I guess I'll report on how it is.

ETA: for my own reference; i measured my stock brake line to be 39" from the center of each bung.
 
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So I'm more confused than ever. Spiegler sells a kit for 1978-1979 CB750 K single front disc. that's what I bought. What I got is not remotely compatible with my bike. My bike has one rubber brake line that runs all the way from the master cyl to the caliper, with a bung on each end (all pictured, red line showing the routing). I received one 14.5" line, one 11.25" line, and three banjo bolts. According to the STG rep I emailed with, Spiegler says they've sold many of this kit with no fitment complaints. because my bike only has 6,400 miles and sat most its life, I'm under the assumption that most every component on it is original, including the brake line. Is the brake line different on LTDs than normal Ks? Am I taking crazy pills? Why is this so completely different from what's on my bike?

I need help lol
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Fencingboy said:
They say I can't return them because they were custom ordered!
Click to expand...
Who gave them those brake line lengths? If you did, you have a problem. If they did, they have a problem. Call them back and ask them what the brake line lengths are for your bike. If they give you different numbers than the lengths of line you have, they should fix it.
 
brettp said:
Who gave them those brake line lengths? If you did, you have a problem. If they did, they have a problem. Call them back and ask them what the brake line lengths are for your bike. If they give you different numbers than the lengths of line you have, they should fix it.
Click to expand...
STG doesn't (as far as i can tell) let you order just a custom length line. They sell "kits" based on make and model and don't list the actual specs in the item description. I ordered their "kit" for 1978-1979 CB750 K just "off the shelf". I guess I'm gonna have to get in touch with Spiegler directly to get some answers. I've been communicating with a STG representative over email who has been in contact with Spiegler.

My kit was "custom ordered" because with the kit you can choose the color of the line and fittings.
 
My '79 also has the same one-piece front brake hose as Fencingboy's bike. Not sure that a '78 and a '79 would have the same parts installed as a '78 bike is a SOHC and the '79 is the first year of the DOHC. B082CB's bike appears to have the dual disc front end, so that's a 3rd setup altogether.
Sucks when a company won't make things right when it's their mistake.
If I was going to do SS brake lines, I'd get in touch with https://www.russellperformance.com/shop/russell-brake-clutch.html You can spec out the fitting for each end of the hose and then get basically a universal hose of the correct length. They come either braided or black plastic coated.
 
All of the DOHC bikes with dual front discs had a "bridge" fitting with three banjo bolts that split the single line from the master cylinder into two going to the calipers. What you received seems to be the setup if there's only one line coming out of that bridge fitting.
Of course, your bike has one brake caliper and one brake line so it makes no sense that they'd send you multiple lines.
I think I went with Galfer for my single front stainless line and theirs is a decent length. Maybe an inch or two too long but that's better than too short.
 
So, an update. I reached out to Spiegler directly and they were very helpful. They have sold a number of these kits so they were curious as to why it didn't fit on my bike. They asked for photos of the brake line and the fittings, which I sent them, and said they're going to be using the information to improve fitment with the kits.
And most importantly (to me) they're sending me a custom 39" line in the meantime, free of charge. So I'm very happy with Spiegler customer support and professionalism. I'll post here again when I receive it. Seems though that the best option in the future is gonna be just ordering one by length and not relying on a company's "kit" to always fit correctly.
 
So, I got my new line from Spiegler. I measured it to be about 39.25” which is great, glad they went a quarter inch over the measurement I gave. When I held it up against my stock line it was about 1” shorter than the stock line, but that’s on me for my measurement. Installing it on my bike it fit perfectly and it is long enough. Bled the brake, test rode it, and it’s got great lever feel and is holding fluid at all points. So A+ to spiegler in my books. I may come back and add some pictures of it on my bike later.
 

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