Braided Hose for Disc brakes

[SuperChief]

Looking at the cheapness of the plastic hydro lines on my Avids. I am wondering if upgrading to a stainless steel braided hose would be worth it. first in durability and second in performance. I found goodrich on UK sites are they available in the US?

[toast2266]

I've never run the braided hose myself, but a couple friends that had it hated it:
1) its really expensive - you can buy a lot of regular plastic hose for the price of one braided hose
2) its not very flexible - it can make routing difficult on some bikes (and I'm sure some braided hose is better about this than others, I don't remember what kind they were using)
3) If it doesn't have some sort of plastic clear coat over it, its very abrasive. One friend had some sort of unprotected braided hose and it rubbed a hole a good part of the way through his head tube before he noticed

[pechelman]

i switched from plastic to braided lines on my hopes 3 years ago cause i needed to switch them anyway because the lines were too short.

it wasnt that much more expensive and they do feel better.
as far as flexibility, the hope ones are more than flexible enough
they are also coated in clear plastic so no issue there.

i find it really strange when i see plastic lines in a high pressure system thats undoubtedly the most critical system on any moving thing...brakes.

[beaterdit]

I've never run the braided hose myself, but a couple friends that had it hated it:
1) its really expensive - you can buy a lot of regular plastic hose for the price of one braided hose
2) its not very flexible - it can make routing difficult on some bikes (and I'm sure some braided hose is better about this than others, I don't remember what kind they were using)
3) If it doesn't have some sort of plastic clear coat over it, its very abrasive. One friend had some sort of unprotected braided hose and it rubbed a hole a good part of the way through his head tube before he noticed

I run Goodridge lines on my Slayer with Hayes Nine's. I don't know what your friends were running but they are $$$$.

1) About $50/wheel, the last brake line you'll ever buy.
2) About 150% MORE FLEXIBLE than the chintz plastic lines. My bike has some funky routing issues that led to four ruptured brake lines before I upgraded. No isssues in three years now. I tied some of my extra line in a knot with vice grips and it was still patent.
3) Those must have been the old XT ones. Goodridge lines have a rubber coating so they don't go tink tink on your frame and they scratch less than the plastic ones.

Also, the feel is a lot better. Two thumbs up for Goodridge lines!

I got mine here in the states but I forget where.