Brake-lines

The last blog you’ve seen the brake-lines and today i’ve installed them.
When i want to start i just had to clean the garage a bit because the last jobs i did where in the cold with just a small blow heater aimed at the spot i was working.
Thursday when i got home i stopped by at the car-wash to clean Ecstasy for the job at hand.
Shouldn’t have done that…
Normally i do the groceries for the weekend and then the storage on Ragnarok comes in handy but that evening i decided to let it delivered, i had a discount code for a free delivery and was afraid it would expire.

I could take Ecstasy after all and take the offroad route home but didn’t want to make him dirty again.
Not having fragile goods like eggs i’ve decided to do most of the offroad anyway, only the forest track i didn’t. The entrance is very muddy at the moment and the exit muddy and narrow and only the last two times i’ve managed to conquer the exit with both feet on the pedals.
On the way home i stopped at the bike-shop for brake fluid and also took a can of oil and a filter for Ragnarok.
Also stopped with Ragnarok at the car-wash to get rid of the muck and the next job at hand.

All parts in and space to put the parts and tools aside during the job so time to start.
When having a choice always start simple, the back is a short single line so guess where i started?
The only extra i had to take of was the little heel-plate that doubles as a guard for the pump.
This was just a simple swap and bleeding the system.

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After this part it was time for lunch and then quickly on to the front.
There was a little change, the picture will show it best…

Standard it’s a one in two line and now i have a double line.
Both have pro’s and cons but the con of the double line is only in the first install and with the one in two it’s in the everyday use.
The one in two is not the most constant system in distributing the pressure over both sides. In theory it should be the same for left and right but in reality it tends to give a bit more pressure to the shortest side, in this case the right side.
The double line can be a bitch to bleed and the best option is to do it in reverse.
I always use a syringe to suck out the old fluid and refill the reservoir.
When you have trouble bleeding the system as i had you can work the other way around and use that same syringe with a piece of hose to fill the system trough the bleeder screw.
Just put only a little fluid in the reservoir and push the rest with the syringe through the bleeder screw up the line.
By putting a little fluid in the reservoir you can hear the air coming out and when it gets silent it means the line is filled, repeat this with the second line.
After that you cam bleed the system without any problem, to be sure double check and do it a second time in the same order.

The old fluid was pretty clear but i changed it anyway and i used DOT5.1 instead of DOT4. You can mix those types so no need to clean the system first. Reason for the switch is the higher boiling-point, not enough for Ragnarok i discovered in the south of Italy but more than enough for Ecstasy.

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I also had to get creative on a few places.
The OEM clamp was not round as on the Hel brake lines and i couldn’t cut them off and use the OEM rubber because the OEM brake hose is bigger in diameter but as a metal worker this was not a big problem. It also helped that the used metal was pretty soft and malleable.
After finding a way of fixing the lines another problem came up, the USB charger was in the way.
The double lines from the top means you have two fittings and a longer banjo bolt. As the original banjo already just touched the charger the longer one will smash it at full lock.
Changing it to the other side did the trick.
Nowadays most products come with some stickers and with Hel it’s no difference and normally i don’t like stickers. As a matter of fact, mostly the first thing i do when getting a new bike is removing all the stickers besides the decals (warning labels are decals but will be removes as well).
Ecstasy has Dakar roots, a rally bike and this makes a big difference and after the Mosko stickers on the crashbar and front and the Hyperpro stickers on the swingarm and front fork i figured there could be some more.
I did save the stickers i’ve gotten before and added the Hel plus the K&N, Klim and Itchy Boots stickers to finish the job today.
The only jobs on the to do list for Ecstasy are a new map for the Power Commander and a new paintjob but overall it’s ready for what i bought him for.
Tomorrow i might but him to the test on the TET south NL but first some more pictures.

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