CB400 brake lines.

[royhall]

Hi. Could one of you guys with a 400/4 do me a little favour. Could you measure the length of your two flexible front brake lines. Am using the lower 400/4 handlebars on my 350/4 as the riding position is better, and am going to get some braided hoses made up. Also, does anybody know if Honda ever made a CB400/4 with twin disks. I'm sure they didn't but the brake line man insists they did? Thanks in advance. Roy.

[Bryanj]

Only for racing and it was a special cast magnesium fork slider for the other side

[Norniron]

Looks like this guy on ebay found one!

[Chris400F]

Saw the eBay ad, looks a proper setup. Wonder what master cylinder they used?

On the brake lines front, if it's not a silly question why not just buy some off the shelf lines if lengths are the same? e.g.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Honda-CB400-4-F2-CP-Racetec-OEM-2-piece-front-stainless-brake-line-hose-kit-1978-/321543113360?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4add768a90

[royhall]

That's the thing. Already been down the off the shelf route and they didn't fit for some reason. The supplier says he will change them but he needs the correct lengths. If I can get the original lengths off a standard 400/4 I can check if the ones supplied are correct and its the 350/4 that's somehow different. If someone could get a piece of string and a tape measure on both flexible hoses, it would be a big help and greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[Chris400F]

That answers that one then!
Hopefully someone with a bike in pieces or with spare hoses lying around can provide the lengths.
In situ the top hose in particular is very difficult to measure due to lack of access.

[Chris400F]

I'm planning to replace the pipes on my 400. The supplier contacted me after I ordered to check that I wanted standard parts as apparently they have had a number of customers who have changed the bars or done away with the metal pipe from the caliper so they check before sending (what a logical thing to do). Their standard specification is as follows:

Top hose 280mm banjo both ends.
Lower hose 370mm with a banjo at the splitter and a female fitting to screw onto the metal pipe.

Is this what you have? I can measure the ones that come off when they come off but no promises when and I hope they are no different to the lengths above anyway.

[royhall]

Perfect that Chris. Thanks.

[Chris400F]

Hopefully you are all sorted now. As I have just learned (again!) it's not just about the hose lengths.
Angle of banjos is also important, as I found in the past when fitting flat bars to a CB-1 I used to have.
My original top hose had a 30 degree banjo at the top and a straight one at the bottom.
Replacement top hose had a much narrower angle (maybe 10 degrees) at the top and straight at the bottom.
If I had been doing a straight swap of the hoses I would probably have realised but with a delay between removal
and refitting and the small angle on what should have been the top banjo I didn't.
A certain law says that if there is a right way and a wrong way then the wrong way often comes out on top.
Replacement hose seems to fit OK with the smaller angle at the top. Just something else to be aware of.

[royhall]

Cheers Chris.
I ended up refunded on the other lines as they said they needed to see the bike. Bit far to take it from Blackpool to Sussex for a brake line measure.

I have had a lot of info about this now. It appears to depend on the bike being USA or UK spec. The UK spec top hose is 280mm with a 20 degree banjo at the master cylinder and a straight banjo at the splitter. When you throw into the mix that it's a CB350F with 400/4 handlebars it gets a bit messy.

But am going with the UK spec 400/4 items as they appear to be the best solution. Am going to get them from the Racetec guys from your link, just not ready for them at the moment. Need the bike together before I can get a real measure.

Could get messy, will let you know.

[Chris400F]

I was happy with the Racetec items I bought.
I ordered black ones to look similar to the originals, they even came with the grommet on the lower hose to fit in the loop on the mudguard.
I was less happy with the Master Cylinder Repair Kit I bought from eBay which had a check valve measuring 15.5mm across the corners which
is never going to fit in a 14mm bore, but that's another story. Got one from DS in the end, more expensive but parts fitted correctly.
As long as the joint / brake light switch is in the same place on the bottom yoke on the 350 and 400 then I guess you should be OK.
Of course that could be famous last words ....

[royhall]

Had a quick check a while ago, and the splitter block looks like the same part number for both 350 and 400, same with the lower steel pipe and the lower hose. Just the upper hose was different due to the 350's higher bars.