Hi All, Building a 900 Monster resto-mod and a fair few months back I picked up some Hypermotard 1100 (or maybe 796) lines for a nice clean set-up which runs both up the left hand engine side rather than one hanging over the belt cover on the right. Like an idiot I didn't check them when they arrived and last night found some abrasion damage that wasn't listed in the original eBay advert. Whilst I can simply look for another stock line to replace the damaged one I'm now tempted to see how much a nice shiny new set will cost, however I've never had any custom oil lines made and have no idea of who to use so please suggest vendors in the UK. Cheers - Ben
Hi Ben When one of the Crankcase to Cooler lines on my 916 Biposto fractured across the internal concave face, I took it to Pearson Hydraulics in Lincoln and they copied it (albeit with steel unions rather than the anodised Alloy originals) for considerably less than the cost of Standard Ducati parts. So I reckon any decent local Hydraulics place should be able to produce what you need.
As above ^^^ most hydrauic hose people should be able to make up lines for you. Have a look for local people and take your existing ones along to see if they can match the fittings. The only thing is that they may not be pretty enough! There's other outlets like this to look at: https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/mot...il-system/hose-fittings-adaptors-accessories/
I normally use Torques of Swansea to supply the fittings & hose that I want for oil lines, then make up the actual hoses myself. All you need is a suitable cutter for the hose & a vice to hold the fittings while you assemble them. For brake lines I either use CAM Auto Developments, who are Goodridge agents or Mark Glover of Lightenupgrade.co.uk, who can swage up brake line using HEL fittings & hose. All three provide excellent services in my experience.
When you say suitable cutter what would you suggest? I've also emailed a local company and will see what they come back with tomorrow.
Most professional places have shears similar to those for large diameter electrical cables to cut both rubber and teflon steel braided hose. The best thing to use if your doing just one or five is a thin metal cutting disk for a angle grinder or air grinder. You'd tape the hose where you want to cut it, masking tape is ideal, and then cut through the centre of the tape. Then fit the nuts before removing the tape. Doing that prevents fraying of the braid at the ends.
I use a pair of these to cut my hoses, both oil hoses & brake hoses. The oil hoses I normally use is 6AN size & the brake house is 3AN size. Both Goodridge & HEL brake hose is 3AN size. They are heavy cable shears & cut through the hose rubber sleeve & the braided stainless steel outers leaving a "clean" cut. I have seen people use a band saw & a hand grinder with a cutting disc fitted. A hand hacksaw though tends to fray the outer nylon braiding which can make getting the hose into the clamping nuts a bit awkward ! The type of fittings I use for my bike builds are like these & are available is a wide variety of angles & there are a wide variety of threaded or weld-in adaptors too. The 6AN fittings though do use imperial hexagon sizes so you'd need some imperial spanners too, common sizes being 1/2"AF, 9/16"AF, 5/8"AF & 11/16"AF or a suitable adjustable spanner!! Obviously swaged fittings are much neater that the type in the picture above, but you need to be careful when measuring the hoses up. What I tend to do when using that type is to get one end swaged on first & then offer it onto the bike & then cut the hose to length. Then send it back for swaging the second end, that way there shouldn't be an issue with the hose being either too long or a bit short. The bigger the hose diameter the more accurate you need to be with the hose length.
I bet those Knipex cutters were expensive! Some great ideas and tips there so very grateful for your detailed input but I think on reflection I'd be better off paying to get some made bearing in mind I wont be buying any more for years.
