This  write-up describes replacing stock cables and lines with OEM stock cables and lines, or replacing them with braided stainless steel stock-length or overlength cables and lines.

 

GENERAL  INFORMATION

Make-Up of BUBF Lines and Cables

1500A, 1500B, and 1500C Vulcans use black vinyl covered throttle cable pairs.  Each Throttle cable is made of a thin steel cable inside a black vinyl sheath, or narrow tubing.  

Stock brake and clutch lines are rubber covered hydraulic lines.  A hydraulic lines has an inner tubing  (~1/8th inch inside diameter I.D.) made of a strong material similar to Kevlar or Teflon.  This inner tubing is encased in black rubber.  

Both the front and rear brake lines have a 10MM banjo connectors at each end, with either a straight "neck", or slightly angled to the hydraulic hose.  

The front clutch line has a crimped-on single 10MM banjo, and a single crimped-on 10MM x 1.25 thread Female adaptor.  The adaptor threads on to a thin metal pipe line that runs from the steering head back along the bike frame on the left side.  The end of the pipe has a crimped-on hydraulic line with a 10 MM banjo at the end that connects to the clutch slave cylinder, located behind the left engine cover.

Stock-OEM BLACK Vinyl Cable and Line LENGTHS

  • Stock throttle cables are approximately 47 inches long and link the carburetor butterfly control link to the right-hand  handle bar throttle grip assembly.

  • The stock front hydraulic brake line is approximately 41.5 inches long (measured from the middle of each banjo bolt) for the 1500A and 1500C.  The 1500B1 (and I think the other 1500B series) are 44 inches long.   The rear brake hydraulic line is shorter, or approximately 38 inches long and can make use of a 15 degree banjo.  15 degrees is measured by the forward tilt or bend of the banjo head.

  • The stock front hydraulic clutch line is 24 inches long measured from the clutch reservoir to the hard pipe.  The entire stock clutch hydraulic line assembly  includes the front line, the metal pipe along the frame, and the crimped-on rubber hose is approximately 72 inches long. 

You'd do best to take these line measurements as APPROXIMATIONS.  Please measure your lines before ordering replacements.  

About Stainless Steel Braided Cables and Lines

THROTTLE CABLES

Braided stainless steel throttle cables are simply a thin steel cable covered and protected by braided stainless steel "tubing" used in place of vinyl sheathing.  Braided s/s looks good, will withstand abrasions better, but does the same job as the vinyl on your stock throttle cables.

HYDRAULIC LINES

A braided stainless steel hydraulic line uses the same Kevlar or Teflon inner tubing of the same diameter  -3 (3 MM) or ~1/8th inch I.D., but the outside protective covering is the tougher braided stainless steel which replaces the black rubber.  When you pull-in your brake or clutch lever, the increased pressure along the length of the hydraulic system will expand the braided stainless steel line less than the stock rubber lines.  As a result, braided s/s lines require less material and will have a smaller outside diameter (O.D.), and will look about the thickness of your stock throttle cables.  The reduced line "expansion", is said to enhance line response and rider touch.

You can buy several different types braided stainless steel lines:

  • Without a protective plastic coating; 
  • More commonly with a clear protective plastic coating along the entire line; 
  • And lines coated with a tinted see-through plastic coating in red, blue, and green (and occasionally opaque black for stock restorations).  The coatings are meant to protect the bike's finish from metal-on-paint abrasions, and enhance styling.  Surprisingly, color-coated lines cost about the same as clear coated lines. 

HYDRAULIC LINE MANUFACTURERS

Russell and Goodridge are the two better known brand-name manufacturers of braided stainless steel hydraulic brake and clutch lines, connectors, and adapters.  Russell and Goodridge only sell through dealers and motorcycle shops.  When you have specific questions, first contact Russell or Goodridge for product information and their part numbers, then go to their dealers for product pricing and availability.  

Most dealer-telemarketing reps ONLY know what's on the PC screen in front of them that they reference for part numbers and inventory.  9 times out of 10, they don't have experience installing or using the product.  Ask for the dealer's Tech Support Dept. for detailed information.  In many cases, a dealer DOES NOT carry all the parts Russell and Goodridge manufacture.  

NOTE:  The best dealer for Russell products was Flanders Handlebars, mainly because Flanders is part of Edelbrock and Edelbrock also owns Russell.  At the other end of the scale is AutoZone whose in-store catalog only contains automobile and truck-specific  lines and connector parts, and contains few to none of the parts and lines you'd need for a complete motorcycle hydraulic line.

 

STOCK-LENGTH off-the-shelf Black Rubber and BRAIDED STAINLESS STEEL (s/s) REPLACEMENTS:

OEM Black Rubber/Vinyl

Your best-bets for buying stock hydraulic and throttle cable replacements are your local dealer, and www.ronayers.com. 

NOTE:  Ron Ayers and several other on-line dealers can sell you stock-length replacement BLACK VINYL hydraulic lines and throttle cables by BUBF year (1987 - 1999) and series (A, B, and C).  To speed-up the transaction, use KAW part number XXXXX-nnnn.  You can get stock part numbers at www.buykawasaki.com.

Braided Stainless Steel

1.  Stock-length replacement stainless steel (s/s) HYDRAULIC lines are easy to find, even for the 1500A's, B's, and C's.  J & P Cycles, Dennis Kirk, and J.C. Whitney have off-the-shelf/complete hydraulic lines at reasonable prices.

2.  Stock-length replacement stainless steel (s/s) throttle cables are also easy to find: Motion Pro, J.C. Whitney, J & P Cycles, and Dennis Kirk sell stock length s/s braided throttle cables.

NOTE:  A Lot of vendors use the VN1500A, VN1500B, and VN1500C designations in their lists.  Using these model designations may make searching go a little faster.
OVERLENGTH BUBF Line and Cable SOLUTIONS (on the cheap! ):

I'm sure many of you have read this far because you've added risers or new handle bars and your stock cables and lines are stretched to their limit, and you are experiencing some tight turn problems.  

That's what happened to me.  After adding stock Buckhorn handlebars along with 5.5" x 2.5" risers, all my 1500A cables and hydraulic lines were too short by 2" to 5".  There are two ways to solve the problem:  buy custom overlength braided stainless steel cables and lines, or buy the lines and screw-in connectors and adapters to make your own.  I was stubborn and had just paid $40.00 for the buckhorns and didn't want to spend much more on lines.  So like any resourceful BUBF owner, I "improvised".

OVERLENGTH FRONT BRAKE HYDRAULIC LINE

Thom Boswell gave me his stock 1500B1(note B-one) black rubber brake line which is 44" long.  It connected to the 1500A without a problem, and it's working fine.   If I were to replace it with braided s/s line, I'd get an overall 43" line for a little closer fit.  Given it was the same color and material as the front line, I didn't need to change the rear stock brake line. This started me down the road to looking for stock lines. 

OVERLENGTH THROTTLE CABLES

To match the black rubber brake line (above), I bought black vinyl overlength +6" throttle cables from Motion Pro for ~$50.00 shipped.  They are about 2" too long, but work, and the price is right.  I saved about $25 going with vinyl cables instead of custom (exact overlength) black vinyl, or custom braided s/s cables.  The vinyl cables are not pretty, but they work fine, and I still didn't want to spend a lot of money on custom length throttle cables to get the stock buckhorn bars and risers working.

OVERLENGTH CLUTCH HYDRAULIC LINE

The dreaded clutch line!! The easiest solution would have been to buy an ~76" braided s/s line. Quick, easy, no hassle, and only $68.00 plus shipping and handling.  And the price stays the same as a stock clutch line replacement even though the line is 4 inches overlength.  This would have REPLACED three (3) line parts:  the hose at the master cylinder to the thin hard pipe; the hard pipe that runs along the frame and the hose (crimped to the hard pipe) that connects to the clutch slave cylinder.  I would then have replaced three parts with one better solution (and have fewer potential points of failure).

But I was (still) stubborn and thought there had to be a cheaper way.  So I posted my need for clutch line and connectors on rec.motorcycle.tech, and a fellow suggested www.anplumbing.com.  I went to the AN Plumbing web site and they seemed to carry everything! So I called their Tech Support and spoke to Ken.  I told him I needed a clutch line for the BUBF.  His first suggestion was that I send him the stock clutch line, specify the overlength I needed, and they would make the line for me for about $25-$35 dollars plus shipping.  He also said he could make the line in black plastic-coated braided stainless steel. I smiled to myself because this would match the black throttle cables and the black rubber brake line.  

He had me hooked.  I told him he sounded very knowledgeable (which he did), and that I'd like to save some time and get the line sooner.  So I said that I had all the Russell and Goodridge part numbers needed to make the clutch line and that I would email him the information to serve as a guide to make the 29.5 inch overlength clutch line for me.  He said OK and I sent him the info.  I called back and he said they could make the line for $29.95 plus shipping and handling.  I said DEAL!

I've installed the new clutch line on the BUBF, and have been riding with it for about 1,000 miles with no problems.  I'll use these guys again, in the future for overlength lines.  

WHO SELLS CUSTOM -OVERLENGTH- BRAIDED S/S CABLES AND LINES?

Russell and Goodridge will direct you to one or more of their dealers.  Their dealers know the Russell and Goodridge product lines, but the ones I talked to did not know Vulcans very well, except Flanders Handlebars.  And when it came to the short clutch line, only one of the dealers was familiar with the 10MM   Female adapter to the hard pipe: Flanders Handlebars, again!!

MAKE YOUR OWN Hydraulic LINES - STOCK or OVERLENGTH!

Dennis Kirk has a wide and excellent variety of lines, and screw-in connectors, and adapters (i.e., banjos, etc.) from both Russell and Goodridge for motorcycles.  Dennis Kirk has several styles of Goodridge s/s braided line, and a ton of Goodridge and Russell connectors on their web site (but they don't have useful pictures of each part).  The Dennis Kirk tech support guy told me the Russell and Goodridge lines, connectors, and adapters are INTERCHANGEABLE.  I don't know this as fact from direct experience, but if this is correct, and I do want him to be correct, this makes life a lot simpler for making your own custom lines.

There are a couple of gotchas you have to be aware of to save time when making your own hydraulic lines.  First, you have to know what parts you need to make your line.  The vendor telephone tech usually don't know from overlength for Vulcans, but they do know banjo connectors and the various line lengths they carry.  So you have to be sure you are measuring correctly for the line you want.  What the telephone tech will tell you is to find the overall length you need.  For a STOCK length replacements, do this by measuring from the center of one banjo to the center of the banjo at the other end, or for a clutch line, from the center of the banjo to the INSIDE of  the clutch line female 10 MM x 1.25 thread adapter where it meets the hard pipe.

NOTE:  The BUBF front brake line is 41.5 inches measured from the center of each banjo.  The banjos required are one straight banjo, and a 15 degree banjo.  15 degrees is measured by the forward tilt or bend of the banjo head.  

NOTE: the BUBF clutch line is 24 inches long as measured from the center of the 15 degree banjo to where the inside of the female 10 MM x 1.25  adaptor meets the hard line male connector.

NOTE:  It will cost you $20.00 to buy a PAIR of the female 10MM x 1.25 adapters because they're only sold in pairs.  The banjo to the master cylinder is sold individually, and various line length are readily available.  Now keep this is mind:  the clutch line parts will cost you $55.00 (plus S&H) at Dennis Kirk, and just about the same price any other place you can find parts on-line (Flanders.com, summitracing.com)

MEASURING FOR OVERLENGTH LINES

Leave the stock hydraulic line connected to the wheel brake assembly, on in the case of the clutch line, connected to the hard pipe. To measure the OVERLENGTH, you would take a tape measure, or a short ruler, and measure from the middle of the disconnected stock banjo opening to where the needed overlength line would connect to the brake or clutch reservoir.  In both cases, turn the handlebars hard to the left, measure, and then to the right and measure again.  Then use the LONGER measurement for your overlength.  Add this length to the length of your clutch line for the total overlength line you need.  Subtract 1/2 inch for each connector and/or adapter the line requires.  The remaining number is the length of the line you need.  If you come up with a line length of say 28.5 inches, round UP to 29 inches.  You can always hide an inch or two of extra line, but if you measure TOO SHORT, you've wasted a lot of time and effort and you still have to re-order the proper line length. 

EXAMPLE:  You want to replace a short clutch line.  You drain the line and disconnect the top banjo connector from the clutch reservoir.  Turn the handle bars all the way to the right and with a tape measure or short ruler, measure from the middle of the banjo connector to the middle of the hole in the reservoir where the new line should connect.  Turn the bars all the way to the other side and measure.   The longest measurement is 4.5 inches.  You take off the clutch line, stretch it out, and measure the distance between the  middle of the banjo connector opening, and the INSIDE of the female connector where it meets the pipe fitting.  This should be around 24 inches on a stock 1500A (your bike will vary, so be sure to measure).  24 plus the 4.5 shortage is 28.5 inches.  Subtract 1/2 inch for each connector (in this case 1/2 inch for the single banjo connector and 1/2 inch for the pipe adapter, or a total of 1 inch), and you're left with 27.5 inches.  Round the 27.5 inches UP to 28 inches.  This is the length of the line you need to go along with the banjo connector and pipe line adapter for a final length of 29 inches.  Again, the .5" to .75" extra total length will not be an issue, and may be useful in the future. 

For pricing purposes, the line will cost about $29.00, the 10 MM banjo $9.00 and the female connector about $20 for a total of $58.00.  If you bought s/s BRAKE line parts, too, the 2 required banjos would be $18.00, the line would be about $38.00. For a grand total of $114.00 (Dennis Kirk gives you free shipping for a total purchase over $100).

TECH TIP: Use NEW washers when reattaching the banjos to the master and slave cylinders. Reusing the old washers is an invitation to a leak....the hydraulic fluid is put under quite a bit of pressure. 

Tinker VROC 9464 1994 1500A Kernersville, NC

SPEEDOMETER S/S CABLE

If you are replacing your stock speedometer cable, you can get s/s braided from J & P Cycles, Dennis Kirk, and a lot of other places on-line.  

For a custom length braided stainless steel, check out Motion Pro.

TECH TIP: Got my s/s-braided speedo cable ordered yesterday it is approx. 411/2" in length.  Will work just fine! (I hope) Motion Pro sure are great folks to deal with.....Larry in tech support in particular.  The cost was $24 and change plus shipping.  Please note that it is a Nomad Speedo Cable, Part # 630307 .  BTW: Put the new speedo cable on and I can no longer plead ignorance regarding my speed!<G> I have only good things to say about Motion Pro. Tinker VROC 9464 1994 1500A Kernersville, NC

A Nomad speedo cable is about the length of the stocker 34 1/2"  and a Highway Hawk 7" pigtail (about 1" too  long).  A cable longer than the stocker is important since putting the DS speedo on the handlebars is further away from the axle than the distance to the stock speedo that's located closer being further forward and over the headlight.  I don't know exactly what the length of the Nomad speedo cable is, but I think it's about 39-40 inches long.

Call DK or J & P Cycles (and several other online parts dealers) and get a Nomad replacement speedo cable.  OR you can take a cloth tape measure and get the exact length you need, although I think a "40 inch" nominal cable length might do the trick.  Looking at an installed BUBF speedometer cable, the axle connection is near parallel to the ground.  As a result, the cable comes straight back and then curves up through the cable holder to the speedo.  Take this extra length into consideration when measuring, or the cable will be too short by 1-2 inches, or more.

If you call www.DennisKirk.com (1-800-969-7504) for a universal cable,  call their Tech Support, telephone 1-320-358-1915 and tell them the length you measured and how you measured.   DK has compatible universal speedo cable lengths under their part number "C9013, 37 1/2 inches, $13.95 plus S&H".  This part number brings a whole slew of additional Kawasaki compatible speedo cable lengths to the customer service computer screen including lengths 34 1/2", 35 1/2", 37 1/2", 39 1/2", 40" and 42 inches long under specific part numbers. All these speedo cables are "supposed to/supposed to" have the exact same connectors as the stock 1500A cable.  Manjo v1111

last revised FOR CONTENT AND PRICES -  4/25/2003