Ride Engineering Brake Line
Ride Engineering Brake Line
Hydraulic hot-rodding
TODAY'S MOTOCROSS BIKES ARE equipped with great brakes. They of-
fer excellent power, phenomenal feel and, unless abused, never fade. So when we received Ride Engineering's front
brake-line kit for the Honda CR25OR,
CR125R, CRF45OR and
CR500R, we weren’t expecting much. After all, the CRs already have excellent brakes and the best line routing going.
Boy, were we surprised! Years ago, Honda was awarded a Japanese patent for its straight-shot front brake-line routing. As a result, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha were forced to run longer, more complicated setups on their inverted forks. Now that the patent period has
elapsed,
the other Japanese bike-makers are free to replicate the Honda way.
Which is exactly what Ride Engineering has done, except the material of choice is teflon sheathed in less-expansion-prone stainless-steel, as opposed to rubber. On our long-term
CRF450R, installation and bleeding took about an hour. Right from the get-go, the brake felt more responsive and required less lever effort to achieve identical stopping force. Among our test riders, however, opinions were mixed. Some thought the brake was too strong, while others liked the added feel and power.
It was only when we contested a SuperMoto race at California Speedway that we experienced the line’s greatest attribute-the aforementioned reduced expansion. During practice, repeated hard stops from high speed elevated brake fluid temperature in short order, causing the stock rubber line to expand and the lever to f come all the way back to the grip. For the race, we fitted the Ride Engineering line. During the 20-lap main event, lever travel increased only marginally, and that was likely due to caliper flex.
Simply put, we’re sold. £3
DETAILS
Ride Engineering 8195 Eastport Dr. Huntington Beach, CA 92646 800/805-1516 www.ride-engineering.com Price $63
-Ups Simple, inexpensive improvement Enhanced feel Available for all Japanese motocrossers from 80 to 500cc
owns Too powerful, too much feel for some Don't ya hate brake bleeding?
