Bandit 1200S - Brake Lines, Cooling, Grips

The weather changed for the better (for one day), which allowed me a few hours in the garage today. Finally making some progress:

First thing - I finished making brackets for the AN hoses to the cooler. Started off with 1/2 inch aluminum plate, and took it from there.

Blank plate

Drilled holes slightly larger than the hose's diameter

Cut off at mark, then drilled for a 6mm tap

Cut the brackets in half, and tapped the holes in the back pieces for 6mm bolts. Enlarged front pieces holes to 1/4 inch, and threaded bolts in to join the two halves. Also, drilled the back pieces in center for a bolt to attach to frame. 

 Installed on the bike with a long stainless steel bolt and aluminum spacers to achieve desired offset:

Hose mounted in place, and secured by the front half of the bracket. This way, the hose clears the header pipes and does not move:

Next, I installed Bikemaster heated grips (still have to be wired). I like the grips, and the quality appears to be good. They are of a slightly larger diameter than the stock grips, and feel good in the hand.

My Spiegler braided stainless steel lines finally arrived, and I was able to install the front and rear brake lines, plus the clutch line. The quality of these lines appears to be really good, and Spiegler stands behind their product with a lifetime warranty.

http://www.spieglerusa.com/

I opted for a translucent red with blue fittings, to match my AN plumbing hose ends. For the front, I got a two line setup, while the rest follows OEM lines.

Front:

On the front, I ended up reusing the stock rubber bushings and brackets, squeezing the brackets shut a bit more to accommodate the smaller line diameter.

Clutch line was easy to install. Again, I reused stock rubber and brackets. The flexible hose was far easier to route.

Rear brake: