Have you an 1100GS - You've a part needs checking for your safety

... and another one. Just been having a poke at the bike ('95 1100, ABS, ~70k, been stood for 18 months) for the first time since August. Squeezed the front brake, very spongy... very very spongy... ahhh! Horizontal jet of brake fluid from the union mentioned. Guess a set of Goodridges is in order, unless anyone knows of better...?

Dave
 
Dragon Master said:
... and another one. Just been having a poke at the bike ('95 1100, ABS, ~70k, been stood for 18 months) for the first time since August. Squeezed the front brake, very spongy... very very spongy... ahhh! Horizontal jet of brake fluid from the union mentioned. Guess a set of Goodridges is in order, unless anyone knows of better...?

Dave
Click to expand...

pay that little bit extra for stainless fittings. hel (standard) or goodridge (optional) or whoever. all about the same price. (pennies difference)

fit and forget.
 
I changed mine to braided about 4 years ago. The brakes were really not doing their job and it was down to the original hoses ""ballooning" under pressure. If you haven't done it yet do it now. You won't believe the difference in braking.
 
just had my front brake go did not know it till trying to stop coming off the motorway had worked fine up till this point. will check the lines now as there is no pressure in the lever but have had no apparent fluid loss was thinking that the master cylinder had just failed :
Steptoe said:
Had two in this last month, and a couple more phone calls with the same problem - Over the last year i've also had this same problem with 8-10 bikes. And it's actually happened to me while out testing a customers bike. It's not a very pleasant experience.

The front top brake line on older 1100GS's, is splitting at the connection with the frame/holder. Where the hose joins into the fitting. Due to age and the constant flexing at the samepoint. It goes without any warning, you just lose all front braking.

Don't wait until it splits, replace it now. To be safe.

None of the other sections of hose give any trouble, just this one section.

Could you also post up/reply if it's happened to you or you know of anyone had the same problem. Just so we can get an idea of just how widespread this problem is.
Click to expand...
 
Another one

1998 GS with 140,000 km. The top hose split at the usual spot and the one running down from ABS to the front wheel balloons as if it's going to burst any second. Lucky for me, discovered it while bleeding the brakes, although the brake lever has been pretty spongy lately. Waiting for a set of Spiegler steel braided lines to arrive.

Cheers,

Doug.
 
motobiker said:
pay that little bit extra for stainless fittings. hel (standard) or goodridge (optional) or whoever. all about the same price. (pennies difference)

fit and forget.
Click to expand...

Is it right to assume, that only original fit pipes have split because they don't have the outer braided sheath? Or, are braided pipes likely to have a similar life due to the sealing bit being rubber, and it's getting tweaked as well?
 
John Armstrong said:
Is it right to assume, that only original fit pipes have split because they don't have the outer braided sheath? Or, are braided pipes likely to have a similar life due to the sealing bit being rubber, and it's getting tweaked as well?
Click to expand...

The originals on mine would be ten years old come this december... and there was no sign of any damage/wear. However I didn't want to chance it. From all I understand the same wear that occurs to the original upper hose where it flexes is impossible (or next to impossible) with braided lines. I have further reduced the possibilty by having longer hoses made up.. I had 25mm bar risers fitted to my bike - so had the upper hose made 30mm longer than the original.. so less flex/movement with the resulting extra 5mm.

I'm sure steptoe will be able to give a definitive answer... but I have absolutely no concerns about the brakelines on my bike anymore. I won't be at all surprised if they last the life of the bike.

seems to me this was one of those slight design mistakes that the bikes designers didn't/couldn't allow for... as failure has only occured long after the model has ceased production (6 or 7 years), seemingly this is not an issue on the 1150 which has a different brake line layout.
 
Brake line

Had same problem.
Just come back from a track day at Cadwell Park. Been before so pushing hard. A week later changed pads and bled system. Halfway through, fluid running down the front wheel. The hose had rubbed through under the fork bridge even though it had a protective sleeve at that point. Had the bike from new so standard set up. Happened around 55k, 98 GS1100, Non ABS.
Could have been messy!!
 
happened on my 1150 gs last week replaced it with twin braided hose from abs down
 
I have just ordered a HEL line via eBay for the top line of an 11GS ABS. Not had a prob up to now so this is "just in case".

If you need just the one then it was £28.99 inc postage which seems a bit steep but HEL lines are good quality and they are not stinging me for some ridiculous postage to Shetland like some of the numpties. Sadly they can only do tractors locally (real ones, not GS's!).

They told me to use the single line listing for a R80GS front and then tell them what it was for via the messages part.

Cheers
G
 
I've just fitted the new line. Ring Hel Performance direct in Exeter. They were great and sorted me this line and one for my K11. £29 inc. Approx 1/2 hour to fit and bleed out.

G
 
1100gs brake line faliure

Hi,

Yes, happened to me on a 33k 1998 1100gs. I'd only owned it a month, and it was being an unreliable pain in the arse at the time.

I changed the back disk, and in doing so discovered that the hose was knackered too. I replaced it with a Goodridge hose, and gave the front a good hard squeeze too. The brake seemed to stick on for a while, which was odd, but i'd had enough for one day so didn't really investigate.

Rode to work the next day and the front brake was odd - the lever seemed to travel further back to the bar when first squeezed, but less on the second one.

Rode home a little slower than usual. In the evening I remembered that I really should go and look at the brakes. I found a bloody great bulge in the line just above the union connecting the flexy line from the master cylinder to the hard brake line. I gave the lever a squeeze and it grew. Turned around for a minute to throw a spanner and it went pshhhhh and blew fluid all over the wiring loom.

Not good at all. Good job I didn't have to stop in a hurry.

If you have an 1100gs on original rubber lines I recommend you upgrade to braded steel lines (e.g. Goodrige) IMMEDIATELY as this fault potentially lethal.

Pykie.
 
I have another bike a R1100RS 1995 with 70k miles on the clock. At 50k miles (approx), whist replacing the tyre, I noticed this corrosion on the front brake pipes. I contacted HEL and they said that they did not have the dimensions to make replacments but if I sent them the old rubber brake pipes they would copy them. Quickly, back came copies (rear as well). All fitted bar one which had an angled end which was a little short and not enough bend. Over the phone I explained the problem and they sent me a replacment that day. What a difference it made to the feel of the brakes. The icing on the cake was that they charged me half price for all of the braided hose pipes. When I asked why, the answer was that they had measured my old pipes and could now use the dimensions to offer a package in the future to other R1100RS owners! Thus they would make money out of me so I should benefit as well. Now that is service.
 
Baldrick said:
... now I'm worried I have a 9 year old 850GS with 54K .... my bike is a non ABS model... is this also prone to this... checked last night & couldn't see any signs of damage to that particular pipe BUT the lh pipe has a groove worn in it from the speed cable
Click to expand...

Hi Baldrick,

I think the non-ABS models will not have this problem. The reason is a design-inherent one. On non-ABS bikes, the whole brake line is assembled on the "steering subsystem". The only movements inside this system is the suspension travel, which results in a certain flection of the brake lines. This is no problem for them.

But torsion definitely is a problem - especially for our beloved "hard" steel-braided lines. They do *not* like any torsion. Therefore I am not fully persuaded that in this special case a steel-braided line is the optimal solution.

I found this out while mounting my new brake lines: you can adjust the fittings for steering neutral position, but the line resolutely "wants to follow" if you turn the bar.

See here for more (sorry - german...)
Bremsleitung_vorn-oben.jpg


The only solution would be to rotate the plane of the lower fitting into the plane that the steering describes :)confused: hope my english is understandable...). In this case, the screw would be parallel to the steering head. As a result, the brake line would also only be bent instead of twisted. For this, the "mounting point" would have to be moved farther back under the gas tank.

As for the 1150: they have the same design here.
BMW_1150_Bremsleitungen.jpg

So it should be only the age which makes this more of an issue for the 1100/850.

BTW: just registered here and stumbled into this interesting fred at once...!
 
Good point:thumb

My 1100GS and 1100RT with rubber hoses:eek: are 'steering neutral' when parked on the centrestand

But my 1150ADV with OEM braided hoses, wants to turn either to the left or right when parked on the centrestand
 
Lost mine top brake line

After two years with my 1999 R1100GS my rear brake line gave out, I ordered the full replacement set in braided stainless steel. Replaced the rear one and was waiting until I had time to replace them all and within one or two weeks the front top line gave out. Checked the maintenance records and noticed the previous owner had replaced all the brake lines with non-braided, perhaps OEM lines. So, at the time of my replacing the lines last summer they were approximately 10-years-old and had been replaced at least once before. It's my understanding, according to BMW, the OEM brake lines should be replaced every four years.
 
Reading this is pretty worrying especially if you only have one bike and you need it for transport!
But luckily for me my GS is in the garage with all it's brake lines removed as I had to send them to HEL to have new ones made. Apparently there are too many different hoses used by BMW to reliably send people kits and they have now stopped selling them on their site. They received my old lines in the post today and have made the new ones and got them in the post on the same day. I should get them tomorrow and be able to ride at the weekend.
I was changing the lines mainly because I wanted to junk the ABS and have better feeling brakes. I did try it with one caliper blanked off with a hose clamp to see how a single disk conversion would work, but as no one seems to have done it (and it locked the front quite easily) I decided to stick to the BMW non ABS setup to protect myself legally just in case.
 
Underwatergoat said:
I had to send them to HEL to have new ones made. Apparently there are too many different hoses used by BMW to reliably send people kits and they have now stopped selling them on their site. They received my old lines in the post today and have made the new ones and got them in the post on the same day. I should get them tomorrow and be able to ride at the weekend.
Click to expand...

From previous experience dealing with HEL I would suggest that you check the new lines very carefully before trying to fit them - that they are the correct length and with the corrent unions on them. It took them three attempts to do a set of lines for one of my Guzzis and that was after I'd given them precise lengths - they must use a different ruler to everyone else........ The first time they didn't even send the correct number of lines!

Underwatergoat said:
I was changing the lines mainly because I wanted to junk the ABS and have better feeling brakes. I did try it with one caliper blanked off with a hose clamp to see how a single disk conversion would work, but as no one seems to have done it (and it locked the front quite easily) I decided to stick to the BMW non ABS setup to protect myself legally just in case.
Click to expand...

Why on earth would you consider halving the front braking capacity of a 240kg bike? Is it any wonder no-one's done it? :eek: Your insurance company would have a field day with you in the event of an accident.
 
The idea of a single disk is not a new one. People convert KTM 950 advs. The braking seemed a bit less progressive. I agree that the insurance, Police etc would have been quite unhappy and coupled with the initially unfavourable results was enough make me forget about it.

I'll have to wait for the bits to come from HEL and see what they have come up with.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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