rear brake line

[mikesmith]

I have the stock rear brake line,and after going down some steep single track I went for brakes but had no rear brake.Turned out my brake line got sucked in the tire,of course it tore a hole in it.Any one ever have that happen?I was surprised because the plastic cover makes it veary rigid,now I have a reason to tell my wife why I need to  get a stainless one.

[Rick]

I never talked with anyone with a damaged the rear brake line like this.  Depending upon your year of bike, you should have a couple of plastics loops that hold your rear brake hose on top of and in line with the swingarm.  If these are missing or broken, time for a replacement.

Check out this web page and follow the links to rear brake caliper for the parts listing.  www.buykawasaki.com

Good luck

Rick

[mikesmith]

My KX is a 94,and it has the two plastic hoops and the line has the plastic tube over it to keep it rigid.Guess it was a freak thing,may be a rock or branch knocked it into the tire?

[Rick]

I'll beat it was pretty scarry finding your rear brake not working!

Several years ago, I raced an ISDE qualifier, and day one took 9 hours (day 2 was better, and only took 8 hours).  About 6 hours  into the event, I had used my rear brake soooooo much, I boiled out all of the fluid, and lost the rear brake.  While I should have just quit, I elected to continue, and landed on my head a couple of times when I headed down a steep hill, not remembering my rear brake was gone.  I now carry a little bottle of brake fluid in my fanny back for these type events.  I used an old eye drop bottle, and just cleaned it good.  My thought here is that I could have gone faster had I just taken the time to add some fluid.  Would have had to pump the brake to make it work, but better than no brake at all.

I use the same stategy with the clutch and brake levers, and carry an extra just in case.  The two minutes it takes to change, is easy to make up at the faster race speed.

At any rate, kind of sucks that you had the problem, but these things happen.

Rick

[mikesmith]

I was about 15 miles from the truck when that happened,and luckly had just finished the worst of the trail and coming on to a logging road ,but it was a surprise to go for the brakes and its not there.Any way I went the safest way back (but it still was a little steep at times) using low gears and my clutch for a rear brake,and half the time Id still go for the pedal even though I knew there was nothing there!Just a reflex I guess.