Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Front BrakeLine Question

I put drag bars on my 2006 America. The factory front brake line is to long. Is this line a cable or does it hold fluid? I do not have a repair manual yet & I have not contacted the dealer about this question yet.

Fluid , yes . It's a hydraulic line . You only have cables for the throttle and clutch .
Lots of aftermarket suppliers for brake lines .

How difficult to replace?

When I changed bars I kept my brake line, just tied it to speedo cable about halfway down with a couple of small, black zip ties to neaten it up. Changing the line is a simple job, but if you've never worked on brakes before, you may have trouble bleeding it. Of course, brakes aren't something you want to take chances with.
The only thing I changed was the clutch cable. The extra length caused a little binding when I worked the clutch. I used a Speedmaster cable.

It's very simple to replace the brake line. Cover everything even after evacuating the line. That fluid is deadly to paint. Most reputable bike shops will have brake lines and different angle banjo fittings. Measure how much shorter your line should be from one banjo fitting to the other. A piece of thin wire works nicely for this. Either note the angles of the banjo fittings or bring the old line with you. Get new copper crush washers. Absolutely not worth it to re-use the old ones.

Once installed, I would highly recommend a vacuum pump to help get the majority of air out of the line. It will still take quite a bit of time to remove it all. Last time I replaced my front line, it took me 3 and half bottles of fluid and about 2 friggin hours. Conversely, when I changed the front brake line on my wife's T100, it took about a half bottle and about 30 minutes. Go figure....