Is it really worth replacing your old brake lines?

Head-to-head Should you upgrade to braided brake hoses?

HOW MANY OF you are riding around on a bike that still has its original rubber brake hoses fitted? The chances are that the vast majority of riders will be. Despite the fact that most manufacturers recommend that you change your brake lines every four years, owners seldom do this which seems incredible considering they are such a vital piece of safety equipment.

All rubber products perish over time. Not only that, rubber brake lines’ construction also sees them weaken, leading to a spongy feel at the brake lever as well as a lack of performance as the line swells under the pressure exerted by the fluid within.

Replacing your lines with OE rubber items can be expensive — £220 for the Yamaha Fazer we used in this test — so that's where aftermarket braided lines come in, from around £65 a set.

Although several manufacturers do fit braided steel lines as standard fitment, most bikes come with rubber lines and as such, braided lines are a viewed as a performance upgrade — the steel braid stops the swell under pressure.

But do you really get a benefit from swapping? We decided to find out by taking a bike that still had its OE 17-year-old rubber brake lines and compare them to a set of Hel Performance’s braided steel replacements.

As well as testing the Fazer’s stopping distance from 60mph using a GPS data-logger, we assessed how the lever’s feel and action were altered with each line fitted. As it transpired, the results were very interesting...