Reviewed: Laser exhausts & HEL brake lines

[Shortcircuit]

With the GPZ1100S & GPZ500S found that there is very little after market for them, especially in the UK.

With exhausts it's either Motad or Laser which are both at the cheaper end of the market. The original system on the 1100 was rotting away so needed replacement & didn't like the price of the genuine system. I did not like the look of the Motad Nexxus system, which had stainless pipes but chrome cans & got the Laser 4 into 1. The quality of the system (full stainless) is very good and the only snags with fitting was that the can bracket needed bending so that the can cleared the swinging arm and the left hand pipe touched the engine mount which was dealt with by massaging with a large hammer
Started it up the weekend and it sounds fine for a street legal exhaust :D I heard after I bought the Laser that there are major fit problems with the Motad system & that I had made the better choice with the Laser, which was cheaper anyway.

I'll get some pix up sometime.

Also been overhauling the 1100 brakes & needed new brakelines. I found full stainless coloured lines from HEL were far cheaper than anyone else. Had to give them measurements for the front 2 lines (2 from master to calipers to replace the original 3 lines) and clutch line. Colour match was almost exact for the 1100 blue which was a bonus. Not fitted the brake lines yet as I still have to refurbish the calipers.

HEL also do green which is a plus for Kawasaki Ninja owners :cool

[Shortcircuit]

Links:
Laser
Laser do most Kawasaki, their Jama & Marshall ranges cover the older stuff

HEL UK

HEL supplier UK

HEL USA

HEL also do oil line kits & oil coolers

[Jafar]

how does it work ordering brake-lines? do they only have certain bikes they can fit their lines to, or do you just call them up and they cut them to fit whatever bike you have?

i looked at their site and it didn't have any model/year categories for bikes.

sometime in the near future i'm going to put stainless on my 05ZX6R, front and back

thanks for the info!

[Shortcircuit]

Most popular ones they already have a pattern for but the GPZ1100S being a bit rarer I had to measure the old ones up. The important bit is the angle on the banjo's + I gave them the length from the centres of the banjo bolts. Also sent them photo's with the angles marked on to make sure.

Edge MX carry a good selection in stock anyway, I guess a lot of bikes are similar fitment.

One thing they do recommend is replacing the standard 3 line with 2 lines as it makes it easier to bleed. You then end up with a longer banjo bolt at the master cylinder to take the two lines. It's common racing practice apparently.

[zx_rider]

Thoughts are some pretty nice lines Shortcircuit, Great find!!!

[Jafar]

Originally Posted by Shortcircuit

One thing they do recommend is replacing the standard 3 line with 2 lines as it makes it easier to bleed. You then end up with a longer banjo bolt at the master cylinder to take the two lines. It's common racing practice apparently.

i don't have a lot of experience w/brakelines, could you explain that a bit more? does that apply to my 05zx6r?

[Shortcircuit]

The standard system on most bikes with twin disks was a single line from master cylinder to the junction under the bottom yoke then a separate line to each caliper.

The two line goes direct from master cylinder to each caliper doing away with the junction.

On later Kwaks they have a single line from MC to right caliper then a line looping from right to left caliper.

[Jafar]

i'm pretty sure i've got one line down to the right caliper, then it loops over. so, is it better to have the two lines coming directly from the master cylinder, seperately down to the calipers? i can see how it would be easier to bleed, and you would probably have less of a problem getting blubble trapped in various and sundry part of the system, which i had a problem with on my 05RR: after i bled it the first time it seemed impossible to get all the bubbles out.

[Shortcircuit]

From what I can see from pix the racers all seem to use a 2 line from the master to each caliper.

I'm thinking with the one line then loop arrangement the right side will bite a fraction before the left, 2 line simultaneous which should give better initial bite & probably feel.