How much slack in front brake line?

[DaveP]

I plan to replace the original brake lines on a 1981 GS650L as I get it back on the road. Previous owner swapped out the L handlebars, but never changed the front brake line. It now has a good bend in it due to the shorter distance to the handlebars.

How much slack do you want to have in the line?

Should I just try to route a piece of string to determine the preferred length?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[slayer61]

String or fuel line is an excellent estimator of length. The local HotRod shop did just that when making me my AN oil lines for another bike. Paul

 

[bwringer]

You want to have a little bit of slack when the fork is fully extended. Turn the forks lock to lock to make sure there's no stress on the brake line. Also make sure that there's no issues when fully compressed or turned (in your photo, for example, the line runs pretty dang close to the headers.)

If you can, raise the front of the bike off the ground so that the forks are fully extended and you can move the handlebars lock to lock. This really helps when sorting out routing issues like this.

 

[DaveP]

Thanks for the tips. I just had the front end off the ground this weekend to replace the front tire.

Good point on how close the brake line is to the exhaust headers. Who knows how many years the previous owner had it setup like this...