Last week I received absolute confirmation of information we already mostly knew - Honda has discontinued the lower radiator hose for the 919 entirely and at this point there isn't any plan to put it back into production at any point, which is rather unusual for Honda on stuff like this.

I've seen ads for the Chinese silicone hose sets. My personal experience with Chinese silicone hoses has been rather hit or miss - fine for vacuum, generally okay for air, not fine for coolant.

As a result I've looked around and found a very highly regarded silicone hose maker (they supply Honda racing teams) that *doesn't* make their stuff in China and worked out a kit of the hose and two of the special hose clamps. The retail cost with the current exchange rate is just under $100 including shipping to the US. I've ordered one, but am looking around to see if anyone would be interested in buying this so the maker can decide if they should assign it its own part number or if it should be left out of their catalog as a 'silent special order' option.

There is about a month's lead time on this kit, so I'll post up pictures when it arrives and I install it. In the meantime, anyone at least academically interested in this kit being made available as a regular order item?

Yes.
Plus, your effort is appreciated.

I'd be interested for a future purchase. And thanks for putting this on their radar.

Yes, I'd be interested.

Count me in. Bad on Honda to end something this is in direct sunlight like that. How hard is it to make a damn hose.

What's in the kit, every cooling hose or just the lower one?

This makes 5. Thanks for the heads up.

The company already makes a complete hose set for about three times this price, but having replaced every other hose on the bike recently, I wasn’t needing the all-hoses kit. And the clamps were extra with that kit. There are also some minor but important concerns with silicone hoses that make me want to stay with the Honda EPDM rubber where possible - but that’s not possible for this lower hose any more, is it?

It is *very* unusual for Honda to discontinue a hose like this this soon on a bike that sold as well as this did in Europe. So much so that I am suspecting that this is something like ‘supplier went bankrupt, took tooling/molds with them.’

I am not naming the company I am working with at this time, not because I intend to profit off this (I won’t be, you guys will have to order through one of their distributors) but because they are doing me/us a favor and until product is in my hands and any problems sorted out I don’t want to screw this up; we are going to be at the mercy of companies like this as these bikes age.

The hose is built by hand and if the supplied clamps are used will have a lifetime warranty.

Some of you may have figured out who they are; please do not post this information publicly at this time.

Count me in for a future purchase.

This reminds me of a video I saw of an engine swap. They took the rad hoses and made them out of stainless steel (or alum) tube and shaped it to fit so that all you needed was very small stubs on both ends to attache the metal tube.

IDK what it would take to make an alum tube that shape (or whatever shape will work) but then all we'd need is a small hose to attach the ends. This would also be a final solution except the rubber ends.

I have a TIG and oxy welder set, I wonder how hard it is to bend alum tube without crushing it. I think stainless might be easier to bend. I also have a HF pipe bender.

CB700S, is your concern about this have to do with chemistry, mixing different hose types causing other problems?

Karl, you might want to rethink that idea. Look at how close the exhaust header is to the hose and consider the fact that Honda put a heat shield in the form of that external spring on the rubber hose for additional shielding - on top of using an insulating hose material. Unless you want to stick tons of insulation on this proposed metal tube, all you’ll do is heat up the coolant entering the engine from the radiator.

As for my concerns - certain types of silicone are softer and less cut resistant than EPDM, there can be some coolant loss at the microscopic level with some silicone hoses, and there can be chemical compatibility issues with some coolants, but I’m not worried about Honda coolant doing that. However, there can also be external chemical spills on silicone hoses that will dissolve them where an EPDM hose will ignore it.

Ahh...that's why that that lower rad hose is that shape, with the dog leg in it. It's to force the hose away from the hot header pipe. A non shaped hose would hang down and run parallel with the header.
I've been running a full set of silicone coolant hoses for about three years now. Never lost a drop of coolant and they look and feel like new.

I would be interested, at over 50k miles mine are probably living on borrowed time as it is

Is still one hose available at CMSNL just for 6 Euros.

Link here:


http://www.cmsnl.com/search/?section...3-MCZ-000&tab=

Search: 19503-MCZ-000

Feeding frenzy!

Yes, Add me to the list. At 18 years old I can't expect current hose to last much longer.

I’m in for this group buy

Count me in for a hose buy--although I am intrigued by the concept of a thin-wall stainless formed tube with an added heat shield as a solution.

FYI, this isn't a group buy as of yet. As of now, it may be offered as a standard catalog item at their distributors - the level of interest will determine whether it becomes a listed item or if it's a 'secret' item that's not listed but available as a special order.

Perhaps there is enough interest to justify a price reduction for a group buy as well as adding it to the catalog?

No idea what minimum quantity would be on such a buy and not something I want to explore until I get my hands on the product to evaluate and install it.

Update: Apparently the hose has been finished; they shipped it FedEx overnight from the UK (!), something I did not expect, request or pay for. Will report back when it gets here.

Here's a first look at the hose. Yes, it's from Samco in the UK, a Honda supplier; they require their hose clamps be used to maintain their lifetime warranty - and they appear to be the expected good quality smooth inside surface clamps that will not cut the hose. I've been working with one of their UK distributors to see if we can make this work.



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I will probably be installing this next weekend and will post a separate thread on that.

Thanks for the update........................looks promising.

Great effort!

Yes please

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Ordered a complete set of hoses and clamps from RaceBikeBitz, 4-5 weeks out since red was the only color they keep in stock (went basic black) Does the slinky fit over the lower hose?

It should, I haven't had a chance to do anything due to weather and the city code enforcers camping out over my parking lot. I have another spring from that freshly acquired parts bike and can check that later this week.