Early R65 Front Brake Upgrade Options

[Tony Smith]

I happily rode my 1946 Triumph Speed Twin with nothing but a rear drum brake for years.   

Yebbut, you were never going to get fast enough on the second most misnamed motorcycle of all time to actually hurt yourself

[Barry]

I think the concern about the original brake hose has been a little overdone.  Has anyone  actually heard of them failing ?   I seem to remember a debate a little while ago about how they were constructed i.e are they just a multilayer rubber hose which you can imagine would eventually deteriorate or is there a more rigid nylon inner liner ?  When I've tried to test a good rubber brake hose by measuring the outer diameter with a digital caliper while applying grossly high brake pressure I've seen zero measurable expansion. That suggested to me that they weren't just rubber.

If rubber brake hoses are visibly deteriorating they usually get replaced but it would be interesting to cut one in half to see if replacement was justified.

[donbmw]

A brake hose failure can happen at anytime regardless of the age the hose is. I have had one rupture that was 20 years old and one that was clapps and keeping th rear brakes applied. It was only 5 years of old. If you go by what must aircraft manufacturer recommend you should replace them from 5 to 10 years of age.

[Tony Smith]

I think the concern about the original brake hose has been a little overdone.  Has anyone  actually heard of them failing ? .

Rear brake hose on my R100RS  ruptured in use - all my own work, it was the rear hose so I just let it slide and one day it simply let go.

Shortly after one of the flexible lines on our ancient VW kombi let go. I replace all flexible hoses every 5 to 6 years as a result.

[davidpdx]

Yebbut, you were never going to get fast enough on the second most misnamed motorcycle of all time to actually hurt yourself

So now you have me wondering what the most misnamed motorcycle of all time is?

[Tony Smith]

Yebbut, you were never going to get fast enough on the second most misnamed motorcycle of all time to actually hurt yourself

So now you have me wondering what the most misnamed motorcycle of all time is?

Well its a toss up depending on just who you are trying to insult at the time I guess.

The range of possibles would include:-


Norton Dominator (Unless "domination" of your wallet and savings counts)

Anything made by DOT (An obscure brand so it needs to be explained that DOT stood for (D)evoid (O)f (T)rouble, which they certainly were not.

Others can enter their own, but these will do for a start.



P.S. I would love to have included Norton Electra in my list, having once had the misfortune of owning one (and yes it broke the crank) but I remain to this day uncertain as to whether this model was actaully intended to be a motorcycle, I suspect it was a clumsy attempt to create a mechanical dog!

[Bob_Roller]

I've had two OEM brake line failures, my '81 R65 had a failure at 10 years of ownership, my oilhead at 11 years .

The R65, I found before I rode it, the oilhead line failed in heavy rush hour traffic at 65 mph, about 110 kph .

The lines on my '81 R65, were just rubber, no fabric reinforcement, or liner in the line, the oilhead line was about at best 2 mm thick hose, no reinforcement or liner .

My '87 Guzzi, the original owner bought it from the dealer in '91, one of the front lines failed in '97, he replaced them with braided stainless lines .

In my experience, I don't trust OEM rubber lines, when my cars are out of warranty, they get braided stainless lines !!! 8-)

But, in my situation, the incessant heat of the low deserts of south central Aridzona, is not kind to rubber and plastic components either, I live in one of the worst case scenarios for vehicles !!!

But, it is a ' dry ' heat !!!!

And I tend to keep cars a bit longer than the usual person, I've got one going on 38 years, the next one, is 17 years .