how old is too old for a hose?

So there seems to be a little debate here. But I have a 98, 13K miles, lived in a garage and maintained 5th gen. I haven't taken the fairing off to inspect the coolant hoses but I have no evidence of any leaks, the hoses for the brakes and so on still look ok. Is there a point where you should just replace all the hoses due to age? I have found a pretty decent deal on the coolant hoses on ebay ($150 shipped) for complete set of silicone hoses. But I'm not really looking to spend money just to spend it either.

braided steel brake/clutch lines come in just over $300, but is that really even needed? I'm not gonna be an idiot and not replace things that should be. Looking in the manual haven't seen anything that says replace your hose if it's this old sorta thing. My gut is, inspect the hose if it's not cracked, swelling or leaking then leave it be.

Thoughts?

 

ok, so how I look on this is if this fails how much will it impact me. If it fails and I'm a 1000miles from anywhere then how screwed would I be for a simple failure?
I have multiple bikes so on my main do anything bike (RC46) I would change them if I am doing a big service - as in if I'm going to remove the fairings, change the brake fluid, coolant etc, etc then I'd do it them - Stainless brake lines for sure. The others have worked beautifully for almost 23 years.. - simple to switch and forget then about them..


On my other bikes - then I take a more measured approach - although all have steel brake lines. - I like using my brakes...

 

Very similar approach to Pete.

For me on coolant hoses, I generally inspect for issues and replace as needed, during maintenance and on frame-ups. I have far too many bikes to just start ordering every coolant hose.

Brake lines on the other hand, 30+ years is plenty and admittedly over due. Any bike that goes on my lift at this point with original lines is not coming off without new braided lines (at least the front). Not just for safety, but for better performance. Need everything I can get on some of my brakes.

 

Never ever, ever admit this.... lol

 

too hard or too soft needs replacement, not otherwise.

 

Add an HRC sticker and you can get at least another 20 hp!!

 

lol. at least the honda civics with a bunch of stickers and a coffee can muffler kids seem to be dieng out around here. For a while there were a bunch of those running around, make a lot of noise and still slow as crap.

Yesterday i really opened it up (straight not much in the way of traffic) it was a controlled experiment on how the engine/bike is doing and the brakes. Engine @10k rpm really pulled hard, I didn't max the speed I may or may not have hit 125 (how accurate the speedo is who knows). I then wanted to see how quickly I can get back out of trouble, let's just say I got up to 125, WAAAY faster then I could get back down . I just am trying to get a solid feel of what the bike will do more so from a braking and handling aspect. I know this bike is considered "heavy" by some. Sure doesn't feel like it to me even at slow speeds, but the bike's weight made itself known trying to bring her back down to a stop. I feel like engine braking is as effective as the brakes for slowing. Though my above experiment I was using brakes only, because I was testing the brakes.

So upon further exam, I'm getting a slight brake drag. I think the one piston is sticking. So whether that caused a brake fade not sure. I don't see any leaks, hose is fine.
A removal of the brake calipers , clean and rebuild was always in my future . But in the immediate short of doing that what can you do as a stop gap? Could this be caused by old fluid and a flush/refill help fix this. For all I know the fluid is original :| I'll probably start with doing that and see what happens.

I've been putting off tearing the bike apart and doing the caliper clean/rebuild I wanna do because the weekends have been so darn nice and here in central PA riding season usually ends by now. (or earlier) Now my wheels are turning on the braided steel lines, cause if i'm yanking the brakes off and messing with all that that would be the time to replace the hoses as well. Some seem to think it makes the brakes much better, but how much of that is a HRC sticker kinda thing
Just wanna make the next couple of weeks of decent riding be safe, before i start tearing her apart and she goes into her winter cocoon.


My wife has been fantastic over all this, but I'm also mindful that I can't spend a bunch of motorcycle garage time, AND some time riding. I also need to reorganize my garage to make it more conducive for working on the bike. As it's a mess right now and my workshop area is setup for general woodworking and electronic repair stuff more then motorcycle maintenance.

 

Ride the bike now..
at the point you can't ride it due to weather, then sort the garage.
Then fix the bike

 

It's been a long time since I have had a hose fail that had not gotten damaged by a blower belt or something. I have found a few that were kinda crusty inside, and on my truck I replaced some on spec so I did not get stuck way offroad somewhere (kept the old ones aboard). Hose technology must have improved since the 70's or whenever, maybe before Maypop Industries got out of the hose biz.

Other than fuel lines the hoses on my 1987 car are in great shape.