Installing Galfer Stainless Steel Brake Lines on an SV650

I’m happy to report that the Galfer stainless steel brake lines I ordered way back in January are finally installed and doing their job on my SV650. It only took me four months to get around to it, and the SV they ended up on wasn’t exactly the one I ordered them for, but the end result turned out fantastic.

I’ve been debating what kind of post I wanted to write about the install process. I try to write most of my guides with newbies in mind, but this particular job isn’t for those who are faint of heart, sloppy, or don’t have a good idea of what they’re doing. That being said, I certainly consider myself a newbie and I was able to do the installation myself, but I also did the work under the watchful eye of an experienced friend.

I don’t recommend messing with your brakes unless you have plenty of wrenching confidence. A mistake here can be costly or, worst of all, deadly. You have been warned.

The first thing I did was take a bunch of pictures of the OEM (stock) brake lines.

Most brake line installation guides will tell you that the first step is to drain all the brake fluid out of the system. It turns out that you don’t exactly need to do this. If you prepare the lines and fittings carefully and are quick enough, you can remove the old fitting and swap in the new one before much fluid leaks out.

First, I routed the new lines up to the master cylinder:

The observant will note that there’s two new fittings as opposed to the single stock fitting. The Galfer front brake line kit has two separate lines for the left and right calipers instead of one main line with a split later.

Next, I placed a rag under the master cylinder and situated it so that it would catch any brake fluid before it could drip down and eat my paint. Remember what I said about having your fitting ready before the swap? Here’s an example:

Note the three crush washers between the bolt and the individual banjo fittings. Once I had the new fittings ready to go, I loosened the bolt on the old fitting and removed it. Brake fluid began to drip from the master cylinder, but I was able to get the bolt on the new fittings started and tightened up before much fluid leaked out.

The torque spec for the Galfer brake line bolts is 12 to 15 ft-lbs. In laymen’s terms, this means not as tight as you think. I strongly recommend that you use a good torque wrench to tighten up the fittings, or there’s a good chance you’ll end up breaking a bolt.

The next step was loosening all the brackets holding the stock front brake lines in place and finalizing the routing for the new lines.

I used one of the packages the Galfer lines came in as an improvised catch pan for the old fitting that was laying around on the loose.

After that, I removed the old fitting on the right caliper.

Here’s the new fitting being tightened:

Then I repeated the process on the left caliper.

Then it was on to the rear brake line. The first thing is finding the fitting for the rear master cylinder, which is tucked away in an annoying place a few inches below the master cylinder itself. Here’s a photo showing the location along with the new fitting ready to go:

The steps for installing the rear line were pretty much the same as the front. I swapped the fitting at the master cylinder end, routed the new line, then swapped the fitting at the caliper.

Once the new lines were installed, I refilled the system using a brand-new bottle of DOT4 brake fluid. There are quite a few guides out there on how to properly bleed motorcycle brakes, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel — for now, at least. Suffice to say, take your time, double-check your work, and put on ATGATT before you take the bike out for a test ride.

When taking the test ride, you shouldn’t roll more than 10 feet before you try the brakes to see if they work at all. Start out slow, braking smoothly, then work your way up to faster speeds and harder braking. Any “spongy” or “soft” feeling indicates that air remains trapped in the brake lines and needs to be bled out.

If in doubt, bleed it again!

The End Result

The biggest difference with the new lines is in the braking feel. It just feels better. The adjective most often used to describe this feeling is “linear” and I can’t say I disagree. The stock brake lines would often feel nebulous under hard braking, but the feedback at the lever is more positive with the stainless lines. I haven’t noticed a difference in braking power, but I haven’t tried a high-speed sudden braking test yet.

Several companies make stainless brake line kits for the SV650 (Goodridge and Spiegler being the two that come up most frequently aside from Galfer). The Galfer kit is nice because it includes lines cut to the correct length and fittings that are angled appropriately for their respective mounting points.

The SV650 and SV650S have different brake line lengths. Make sure you order lines that match your specific SV!

Stainless brake lines aren’t a necessity, but they sure make the brakes feel better, and to me, that’s worth the price of admission.