Any experience with AS3 radiator hoses?

[RCinNC]

Since my bike is rapidly closing in on 100,000 miles, I was considering a pre-emptive replacement of some of the parts. First on the list are the radiator hoses.

I found a company called AS3 in the UK that makes a polyester reinforced silicone hose set for our bikes. They're an excellent price, even with shipping costs, but I wondered if anyone here has ever had any personal experience with using them.

 

[bimota]

i put samco red ones on mine, but a friend of mine in bristol, bought the AS3 hoses a few months after i put Samco on mine
back then i think the AS3 were cheaper than samco and after seeing them they looked the same as my samco ones with a different name printed on them, if i had saw the AS3 ones first i would have bought them over the samco i bought

rob

 

[bimota]

AS3 SILICONE RADIATOR HOSES for YAMAHA XT 1200 Z SUPER TENERE 2010-2019 602217556105 | eBay

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half the price of samco and are as good in my opinion

rob

 

[RCinNC]

They're actually substantially cheaper than the Samco ones, at least at this point (they're about $80, shipping included, and the Samco are over $200).

The Samco hoses for an S10 seem to be out of stock pretty much everywhere that usually sells them in the US.

Do you know if your friend had any issues with the AS3 hoses?

 

[bimota]

They're actually substantially cheaper than the Samco ones, at least at this point (they're about $80, shipping included, and the Samco are over $200).

The Samco hoses for an S10 seem to be out of stock pretty much everywhere that usually sells them in the US.

Do you know if your friend had any issues with the AS3 hoses?

no, they,ve been on his bike about 18 months i,ve seen them in hand to look at and feel you would not know they were not samco, also a few teams in british superbikes use them to

rob

 

[bimota]

i would use them with no hesitation to be honest

rob

 

[RCinNC]

Excellent, thank you. I contacted the company a while back and they told me that their hoses are off-road use only, but that's just a regulatory thing in the UK and not a performance related restriction. They mentioned their use by British superbikes.

 

[bimota]

the samco kit has the 2 thinner pipes to the expansion tank but samco is £101 and the AS3 is £59

RED Samco Rad Hoses FOR Yamaha XT1200Z Super Tenere / World Crosser 10>19 | eBay

RED Samco Rad Hoses fit Yamaha XT1200Z Super Tenere / World Crosser 10>19 - Contains 5 Hoses. This is a high performance product which replaces your standard factory rubber hoses to a high quality Samco Sport silicone hose kit.

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rob

 

[bimota]

if race teams in british superbikes are using them which i know they are they,ll be as good as samco

rob

 

[bimota]

i put the red samco kit on about 4 years ago now

 

[audiowize]

I would not recommend silicone rad hoses. They are substantially more permeable to water and you will lose water from your cooling system through them. You are trading this negative to get a hose that will hold up to higher temperatures, which is totally irrelevant on the S10.

If you like the way they look, just top off that overflow periodically.

 

[RCinNC]

Thanks for the info. I've been doing some reading about silicone vs EPDM, and I see that silicon's permeability to water vapor molecules over time is one of its drawbacks, along with permeability to fuel, oil, and oil-based products. I don't know how much of an actual drawback it would be on the S10; if it lost a quart of coolant over a month I'd say "no thanks", but if it lost it over a year I'd be inclined to accept that limitation in exchange for the benefits of silicone over EPDM. That's one reason I posted this; to see if anyone had actually used them over any length of time on a motorcycle, and what their experience was.

 

[audiowize]

What are the perceived benefits on the S10?

 

[RCinNC]

Silicone vs. Rubber Hose

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www.siliconehose.com

 

[bimota]

mine been on 3 yrs now no issues at all as i said

 

[RCinNC]

mine been on 3 yrs now no issues at all as i said

I was going to ask you about that. I didn't know about silicone hoses allowing water to escape through them until audiowize mentioned it. Is regularly replacing lost coolant due to it passing through the walls of the hoses not something you've experienced with the Samco hoses?

I began looking at aftermarket hoses originally because the OEM ones seemed to perpetually be on backorder (COVID related supply line issues, no doubt), so I wanted an alternative. That, and even at the best online price I saw, Yamaha wants $136 for a set of six freaking hose clamps. A $28 hose clamp felt too much like owning a Harley again.

 

[bimota]

my samco been on 3 yrs now and not topped up once yet

rob

 

[bimota]

i did not know about silicone hoses hadn,t even heard of that lol, but wanted the red hoses, i bought them fitted them, 3 yrs ago no issues at all the overflow tank has not moved a millimeter to be honest

rob

 

[RCinNC]

I finally bought a set of the AS3 hoses so I can change out the old ones for a trip to New England next month. They're on the way from England and, surprisingly, their ETA is June 8 (hard to say how likely that'll be). The biggest reason that I went with the silicon hoses is that the OEM ones seem to be on perpetual backorder, like a lot of parts for Japanese bikes. The OEM ones still seem good, but they're coming up on 10 years old and almost 100,000 miles, so I figured better safe than sorry.

I've never changed the hoses on this bike. Anyone here who has already done it care to offer any tips/techniques for doing the job? I do have the service manual, but it's always good to combine that with some real world experience.

On a totally unrelated note, I just changed the spark plugs on a 2017 Subaru Outback yesterday. After having changed the plugs now on both the Subie and an 07 Camry V6, I'm now convinced that this is how the Japanese have gotten their revenge for Hiroshima.

 

[bimota]

I finally bought a set of the AS3 hoses so I can change out the old ones for a trip to New England next month. They're on the way from England and, surprisingly, their ETA is June 8 (hard to say how likely that'll be). The biggest reason that I went with the silicon hoses is that the OEM ones seem to be on perpetual backorder, like a lot of parts for Japanese bikes. The OEM ones still seem good, but they're coming up on 10 years old and almost 100,000 miles, so I figured better safe than sorry.

I've never changed the hoses on this bike. Anyone here who has already done it care to offer any tips/techniques for doing the job? I do have the service manual, but it's always good to combine that with some real world experience.

On a totally unrelated note, I just changed the spark plugs on a 2017 Subaru Outback yesterday. After having changed the plugs now on both the Subie and an 07 Camry V6, I'm now convinced that this is how the Japanese have gotten their revenge for Hiroshima.

its easy enough must be i did mine myself if i can do it anybody can, first i drained the coolant off, undid the screw on the water pump and drained away, i had the radiator panels off plus the tank off, once coolant had gone, it was undo the hose jubile clips and slowly pulled 3 3 hoses off, then took my time and put the 3 new hoses on with new jubilee clips, did them up tight and re filled the coolant