After two years it was time to change the brake fluid on the GSX. As long as I was doing that, I figured I might as well replace the front brake lines with the the ones with braided stainless steel jackets. I also wanted longer ones so I could easily mount bar backs for a better riding position. I had tried this before and I didn’t like what happened to the clutch and brake line. I know people in the forums have said they have managed to rearrange everything so it would work, but that seemed like it would be more work.
The local Vance & Hines shop in Whittier ordered lines for me that were 3“ longer than stock. That extra length had worked out pretty well on my DL-650 so I decided to stick with it. With the new lines I also tried my Rox Risers that had been on my DL, but I found that they stretched the throttle cables too much. The 45 degree bar backs I’d bought from Twisted Throttle were just about right, although the right wire cable bundle is a little tight. Someday in the future I may splice in extensions with heat shrink tubing. You can install a 3/4” straight up handlebar riser with the stock cables.
At the same time I also installed some handlebars I bought for my Bandit 1250. I got them at Holeshot, but they don’t seem to be on their website anymore. Anyway these handlebars are a little straighter than stock, which I like. Unfortunately they are a little scuffed up from storage and the previous installation, but I don’t worry about cosmetics that much. I also don’t wash my bikes very often.
Installing the brake line wasn’t too bad. The original cable is way over designed and some of the bike’s excessive weight must come from the mounting clamps. I didn’t bother trying to reuse them and instead used UV safe nylon ties.
The stock clutch cable seemed to be working, but since I had it, I decided to swap in the new clutch line. The installation of the stock line is totally insane. The clutch line is even more over designed than the brake line. Removing it was a pain, and installing the new line was just as bad. I took a while to figure out how to route it since it lacked the custom bent metal tubing sections that allowed to snake around frame members and other parts. I think I found a safe path for it, but I’ll see. For sure, I wasn’t able to reuse the original mounts. Fortunately, bleeding the clutch was pretty easy. I’d gotten used to it with the SV-1000 and its defective stock master cylinder.
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