HEL Braided hoses

[manxie49]

This was a mod I did a couple of months ago, wanted chance to run the bike for a while before I reviewed them. I purchased the 7 line kit form HPS Ltd, cost about £200, all the banjo bolts, washers and even brake fluid are included in the kit. I would recommend, if you have a bike with ABS, putting a day aside for this job, they are a true biatch to fit! (Although that's probably bike specific). I've always liked braided hoses, I had them on my fireblade, (BF Goodrich then).

The write ups suggest they can reduce breaking distance quite substantially and there is a lot of internet based evidence to support this. HEL reckons that the improved brake performance will knock 15ft of the overall stopping distance from 70mph and a whopping 20ft from 30mph. Personally, I don't often get into situations that require emergency braking, but it's nice to know that these could potentially mean the difference between stopping and hitting something unexpected. I did try a couple of emergency stops, out of interest, at a disused airfield after fitting them and was pretty impressed. Aesthetically they look pretty good, I bought them in red to match other bike components, they come with a clear sleeve fitted to prevent them from damaging other parts of the bike. Right from the off I did notice improvements in braking efficiency, the brakes, even at lower speeds, felt sharper, more responsive and less spongy, so thus far pretty happy.

For some unknown reason brake bleeding was an issue, just couldn't get the air out! I would recommend in this instance reverse bleeding, seemed to do the trick. Once done, for the first few miles I would recommend taking it easy, no heavy braking, just in case! It would be a real fooker to spend time doing this to your bike only to throw it down the road ten minutes later!

 

[geofferz]

Did you switch the stock pads before this? Made the world of difference to me - ebc hh sintered changed things for the better.

[Marino]

Good job, nice interesting colour.

[manxie49]

Did you switch the stock pads before this? Made the world of difference to me - ebc hh sintered changed things for the better.

 

Thats the next job, I ordered some Brembo pads about a week ago, haven't arrived yet....

[geofferz]

Bling first - love it. Man after my own heart.

[Stu]

Did you switch the stock pads before this? Made the world of difference to me - ebc hh sintered changed things for the better.

 

Same here!

EBC all the way for me

Along with fitting braided lines

[manxie49]

Bling first - love it. Man after my own heart.

 

Pads arrived today....Job for later on....should stop on a dime then!

[raesewell]

How big is a dime?

[manxie49]

How big is a dime?

17.91 mm (0.705 in) .... Never let it be said I don't give a direct answer to a direct question

[raesewell]

Good to know. Where can I get one to stop on? We used to be able to stop on a sixpence, I have several of those

[geofferz]

Bling first - love it. Man after my own heart.

 

Pads arrived today....Job for later on....should stop on a dime then!

 

Easiest job in the world. I managed it in like 5 mins and I'm not very brown-fingered.

[geofferz]

Good to know. Where can I get one to stop on? We used to be able to stop on a sixpence, I have several of those

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324190657110

[raesewell]

Good to know. Where can I get one to stop on? We used to be able to stop on a sixpence, I have several of those

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324190657110

Great and only a quid, what do I do with it once I have it can't spend it can't eat it. Oh yeah I can stop on it. But I have sixpences I can stop on.

We are in grave danger of losing our identity, with people referring to parking lots instead of car parks and many other infiltrations into out language.

I wonder if the Americans have adopted any of our words and sayings.

[Mr Fro]

[Gerontious]

Meanwhile....

HEL Braided hoses. I think at one time it was only HEL that used stainless steel banjos as standard.. when other manufacturers used zinc plate as standard. Im not sure if its the same today, but whatever aftermarket hose manufacturer you decide upon, always look at the fixings, banjos and the material they are made from. they are not all equal.

[manxie49]

Good to know. Where can I get one to stop on? We used to be able to stop on a sixpence, I have several of those

 

Oddly my wife found a sixpence on the road near our house a couple of days ago.....

[manxie49]

Bling first - love it. Man after my own heart.

 

Pads arrived today....Job for later on....should stop on a dime then!

 

Easiest job in the world. I managed it in like 5 mins and I'm not very brown-fingered.

 

All done, easiest job I've ever done, even easier than putting the hugger on!! Now there was an afternoon full of bad language emanating from the garage!!

[manxie49]

Meanwhile....

HEL Braided hoses. I think at one time it was only HEL that used stainless steel banjos as standard.. when other manufacturers used zinc plate as standard. Im not sure if its the same today, but whatever aftermarket hose manufacturer you decide upon, always look at the fixings, banjos and the material they are made from. they are not all equal.

 

Couldn't agree more, they are stainless steel on HEL. Some companies do let themselves down with crap fixings, and that's usually where they go wrong, the only other ones I've used in the past were Goodrich, they were pretty good as well.

[raesewell]

I might go the HEL route when my hoses need replacing. Nice bit of bling.

[Stu]

I might go the HEL route when my hoses need replacing. Nice bit of bling.

 

I recommend venhill

You screw the banjo bolts on to the hose yourself so you can have the lines nice and straight without twists in them

So much better in my opinion!

I put the banjo's on the calipers and master cylinder first then ran the lines to the banjo's leaving them loose until I was happy with the position then tightened them all up

[raesewell]

I might go the HEL route when my hoses need replacing. Nice bit of bling.

 

I recommend venhill

You screw the banjo bolts on to the hose yourself so you can have the lines nice and straight without twists in them

So much better in my opinion!

I put the banjo's on the calipers and master cylinder first then ran the lines to the banjo's leaving them loose until I was happy with the position then tightened them all up

 

I'll bear that in mind.

Edit: Just looked at the Venhill site and it looks like they only list FJRs up to 2012, or do you have to buy all of the individual components (a pain)?

[manxie49]

I might go the HEL route when my hoses need replacing. Nice bit of bling.

 

I recommend venhill

You screw the banjo bolts on to the hose yourself so you can have the lines nice and straight without twists in them

So much better in my opinion!

I put the banjo's on the calipers and master cylinder first then ran the lines to the banjo's leaving them loose until I was happy with the position then tightened them all up

 

Good point that Stu, it took a bit of fiddling around to get the lines straight, its doable but ads another stress to the fitting process. You can buy HEL lines and make them up yourself, everything comes as a kit, not sure if this would make it easier, I opted for the pre made lines for my bike.