Bonehead brake line mistake

[RCinNC]

Well, this moved into the top spot for "dumbest thing I've done so far in 2020"...

I was putting the bike back together today after a bunch of maintenance, including removing the front end. After cleaning the throttle bodies I started it up, and a bit later smelled that unmistakable burning plastic smell and saw some smoke. Shut it down as fast as I could, looked around, and found out that I'd forgotten to secure the crossover front brake line to the front fender. It flopped onto the exhaust pipe and melted. I think I caught it before any real damage occurred; I cut away the melted protective sheath that surrounds the brake line, and the brake line looks fine. Is there are reason why I shouldn't continue using this brake line? The rubber sheath appears to be there mainly to protect the brake line from things like stone impacts, and I can fashion a patch for the sheath that I cut away out of some neoprene I have, but I figured I'd bounce this off some that are more knowledgeable than I about things like this.

Here's a couple photos of the actual brake line after I cut away the melted sheath:

 

[yoyo]

Looks good to go

Sent from my ELE-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[ballisticexchris]

It's up to you. Does not look bad at all. My last few street bikes I changed out all my lines to steel braided within the first few seasons. How old are the brake lines? They are long overdue to be changed out if they are original. Yamaha recommends replacement every 4 years. I cannot imagine going much longer than that without losing brake performance and safety.

 

[WJBertrand]

Brake line looks fine, but replace the sheath in case you have another brain fart or the plastic retainer on the fender fails.

 

[Cycledude]

It's up to you. Does not look bad at all. My last few street bikes I changed out all my lines to steel braided within the first few seasons. How old are the brake lines? They are long overdue to be changed out if they are original. Yamaha recommends replacement every 4 years. I cannot imagine going much longer than that without losing brake performance and safety.

well if Yamaha is recommending replacement every 4 years I believe you are about the only one doing that !

 

[ballisticexchris]

well if Yamaha is recommending replacement every 4 years I believe you are about the only one doing that !

Keep in mind I'm talking about the OEM lines. Teflon steel braided lines are lifetime. I'm getting close to 4 years out of my OEM lines. Not riding so I'm not sure If I will replace them when required or not. I don't like the idea of running old OEM rubber brake lines. Spooky.

 

[RonH]

I still have original brake lines on motorcycles I own back to 1974 and as long as I can tell they work just fine, but maybe I just don't notice.