Clear vinyl tubing on vacuum-petcock - bad idea?

[Guest]

I use a clear fuel rated vacuum line, though the main fuel line is black fuel rated.

[Griffin]

Cycle Recycle II sells polyurethane fuel line in various sizes that is tinted blue, but still transparent enough to see fuel in it. It stays supple and soft for years, and grips the spigots tightly without clamps. It is all I use for fuel and vacuum lines.

http://newmotorcycleparts.com/fuel_system_parts/fuel_lines_and_fuel_filters.html

[tkent02]

Cycle Recycle II sells polyurethane fuel line in various sizes that is tinted blue, but still transparent enough to see fuel in it. It stays supple and soft for years, and grips the spigots tightly without clamps. It is all I use for fuel and vacuum lines.

http://newmotorcycleparts.com/fuel_s...l_filters.html

Does this stuff tend to kink if you bend it or can you curve it around under there without problems?

[Griffin]

Does this stuff tend to kink if you bend it or can you curve it around under there without problems?

It's very supple, yet the tubewall thickness is heavy enough so that it isn't kinked on any of my bikes.

I buy the stuff in 10' lengths from him and cut it to size when I replace the lines on a "new" bike.

[Guest]

Tygon is not a single type of plastic. It is a brand name for a variety of polymers or polymer mixtures. Many of tygon branded polymers are fuel resistant. Some of them might not be. Some of them are also heat resistant, but not all.

[tkent02]

It's very supple, yet the tubewall thickness is heavy enough so that it isn't kinked on any of my bikes.

I buy the stuff in 10' lengths from him and cut it to size when I replace the lines on a "new" bike.

Do they have metric sizes? I didn't see any.

[chuck hahn]

You want something with some rigidity and stands up to the heat being swept over it from the engine. Plastic vinyl tubing will soften and the sides will most likely suck together and stop vacuum to the petcock.

[Griffin]

Do they have metric sizes? I didn't see any.

I use the standard sizes he has listed there. I don't recall which one I use for each application. I just bring a petcock in and fit the tubing to each nipple. It's tight to get on and stays put. To remove it, you pull on it pretty firmly, it stretches a bit, then pop! it comes off.

The durometer (softness) of the tubing is probably about a 90 rating, which means it stretches and is flexible, but still stiff enough to resist changing its shape and sliding off the nipple when put under mild stress.

It's far superior to the normal black rubbery stuff that originally came on these bikes, and what Suzuki still sells.