No, I have the Goodridge hoses and I notice zero improvement to the original Shimano hoses.
I use them because I don't want some loose rock to cut my lines, already happened once.
The outer layer of the Goodridge and Hope hoses is a plastic cover so they are not harder then the normal brake lines, in fact I have the impression the normal lines do more damage to the frames.

 

Stiffer lines don't make the brakes more powerful, they may make the lever less mushy. A given force at the lever still produces the same force at the caliper. It's determined by the ratio of lever piston to caliper piston areas, not what connects them.

 

Mushy lever = less power.

 

Looks baller though and that's what counts....


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Eh, the braided are more trouble than they're worth. The performance boost is negligible, the are heavier & more expensive.

If you have em, run em but I wouldn't pay extra for them or go out of my way to replace regular lines.

I've had uncoated stainless braided brake lines on my bike, made a mess of the paint.

I have stainless braided brake lines on my old jeep, extra long for offroad. The difference there again negligible. Maybe a bit stiffer in the pedal, but still stop fine.

The only brake line I ever broke was stainless, didn't loop very well & sagged into the linkage & got cut on a 8ft to flat drop. Scary when you're redounding out of a hard hit & try and grab the back brake to get the front end down a bit & there's nothing there.

 

Great thanks for all the responses. So braided lines are a bit stronger and they look cooler. Otherwise they have no discernible difference in braking.

 

Yup, pretty much.

 

Bikes use hard plastic lines that don't expand much. Motorized vehicles tend to use rubber lines that do expand so steel braided lines can reduce that expansion and perhaps also provide some cooling properties that should improve performance. On a bicycle I wouldn't bother.

And line expansion can reduce fluid pressure thereby compromising performance. Will it be the limiting factor, well that's another story. I've noticed in car that I track that steel braided lines can make a difference but really that's the only place where they offer any benefit. On a bike I just don't see them doing much.

 

If your brakes are well-bled and you've got the same calipers fitted front and rear but the rear lever feels a little spongier, then that's down to hose expansion under pressure. Some hoses are better than others in this respect, but generally braided hoses will be more solid than unbraided hoses. A decent unbraided hose should be good enough for the vast majority of MTB setups though. I almost got a braided hose for the rear brake on my Marin, but decided the weight gain and faff of fitting wasn't worth the small performance advantage. That's just me though - if you need all the brakes you can get and don't mind the extra weight and cost then a quality braided hose is the way to go.