K11 Owners Group

[Daniël V]

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to take care of his bike while he was on vacation. No problem, just bring it over. So at the end of the week me and my GF go for a ride, she on my R1150RT, I on the 99 K1100LT of my friend.
As we rode I noticed that the front brakes werent very effective. As we stopped I took a closer look and noticed that on of the 4 brake pads was worn down, and braking with steel. Hmm. sub-optimal this. better get home nice and easy.
Called my friend, asked if i should replace the pads for him. no problem, thanks a lot. Down to the dealership, picked up some pads.
Remove old pads, and exersize the pistons, to make sure they aren't stuck. 3 of them were moving, one appeared to be stuck, so I blocked the other pistons and put a bit of pressure on the front brake lever. nothing yet, just a bit more..pump again, why isn't this thing moving, mumble mumble..

Whoosh (que sound effect of brake hose failing and having brake fluid all over)

WTF? the brake hose which connects the abs pipe to the splitter at the forks split? wow.



So, cleaned of the brake fluid, called friend, called dealer, picked up hose, returned to dealer, ordered correct hose (oops)

mounted hose. checked other hoses, appeared fine.

Now the bleeding of the brakes. takes a while before pressure is felt.
ABS bleeds okay, now to the calipers. good hard brake lever, open bleed valve a little.. open valve more.. open still more.. Nothing? other caliper same thing. This is getting confusing now, did I incorreclty mount the hose? no, it looks all-right. when I pull the front brake lever I can see the hoses to the calipers bend just a bit, signifying there is pressure in there.
ookay, Suddenly one caliper gives as some brake fluid gets out. The gunkiest, nasties brake fluid I ever saw, filled with little rubber bits.. Ah, the interior of the brake hose must have degraded over time.
Good, unscrew the hose at the caliper and yes the hollow bolt is plugged with rubber bits..



Right, cleaned the bolts, remounted them, bled the system.
So I am thinking: not that hard, still a bit soft. So I bend over to the caliper and as I am pumping the brake I see a big bulge appearing on the lower brake hose, right at the caliper.. oooops..

Called friend once more, ordered two hoses.. sigh..

So I saw him yesterday and we talked about the brakes and I said I did'nt know why the hose failed. I asked him about maintenance and he said: well, I don't know, the brake fluid may have been replaced when it was in police service, I dont know, but not later.. He has this bike for over 4 years now..

Moral of the story: change your fluids and check your hoses!

and a question, should i replace the upper brake line as well? the one connecting the handlebar to the abs line? It looks good, it doesn't bulge under pressure, but I am not sure..

Greetings, Daniel

(edit: added pictures)

[Jim]

Daniel - probably a good idea to change all the hoses.

And and even better idea to change the brake fluid every year.
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."

[chopper_harris]

No brainer - K11 factory hoses are between 9 and 15 years old - it is criminal that they are still on a motorcycle
All of the hoses will be failing, and replacing one faulty hose will simply move the danger to the next weak spot - which WILL fail, soon

Although you have spent $ on the one hose from the dealer, can you cancel the order for the other two ?

If yes, you should bite the bullet and fit a set of braided hose.
The difference in strength of braking an initial bite is well worth the $120 it costs to replace the four lines.
_________________
C1 200 (2001)
R100 RS (1990)
NSU Quickly N (1964)
Honda 400/4 F1 (1977)
MotoGuzzi 1000C (1978)
Suzuki TL 1000 R (1999)
Kawasaki KLV1000 (2005)
K12R Sport (2007) - Wifeys

[BMGraeme]

[tmarshall57]

+1 I did the same back in March )fitted HEL SS hoses) - it struck me suddenly that the hoses on the bike were 10 years old and although the bike only has 36K miles on the clock it isn't usage which wears out the hoses - it is age.
_________________
K1100RS Special Edition 1997
Arctic Silver/Black

[chopper_harris]

[Jim]

Yes - ABS II has five lines.
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."

[chopper_harris]

How so

1, M/Cyl to ABS hardpipe
2, ABS hardpipe to splitter
3,4 Splitter to Calipers

To clarify, HEL list 5 lines as front ONLY, not front/rear as a full set.
_________________
C1 200 (2001)
R100 RS (1990)
NSU Quickly N (1964)
Honda 400/4 F1 (1977)
MotoGuzzi 1000C (1978)
Suzuki TL 1000 R (1999)
Kawasaki KLV1000 (2005)
K12R Sport (2007) - Wifeys

[Jim]

well, you didn't say front only...
_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - still has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repaired!
1992 K75RTP 46,000

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."

[chopper_harris]

But you have confirmed my thought that a 5 line kit is wrong - let us wait for tmarshall57 to confirm what he actually got with the kit.

Thanks for the response - appreciated
_________________
C1 200 (2001)
R100 RS (1990)
NSU Quickly N (1964)
Honda 400/4 F1 (1977)
MotoGuzzi 1000C (1978)
Suzuki TL 1000 R (1999)
Kawasaki KLV1000 (2005)
K12R Sport (2007) - Wifeys

[oldshoe]

Where the hell is HEL ? Their site said they went tits up. :?:

[tmarshall57]