[diddikai]

Hi Folks,

I recently purchased a 2002 ST4S and am in the process if getting it dialed in and catching up on a few maintenance items. I found a very inexpensive alternative to the Saamco hoses on Amazon: $87 Canadian. I ordered yesterday and they vendor has already shipped (which is fast compared to some of the China-based sellers on Amazon).

I'll report back on fitment/quality once I've installed the hoses.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[dewcatty]

Good luck with that. I opted for the expensive silicon hoses, I think they cost $320Aud, on the ST3, because I figured the originals were 14 years old and never having owned a liquid cooled bike before I am terrified of having a hose burst while riding as apart from the likelihood of blowing the motor I can imagine the kind of burns you could get from redhot coolant and the kind of resultant crash you could have.
Plus I thought if I put good ones on I wouldn't have to worry for about a decade.
It's also important to use the best hose clamps as cheap ones will cut the hose. Even with all that I had a small leak at first but it was simply a matter of retightening all of them after the first few hundred K's and it's been tight and leak free since . Well worth the peace of mind for me.
In your case assuming it all fits well and behaves afterwards I'd suggest having a very good inspection every 6 months on every hose to check for any bulbing at each end which hopefully might happen before total failure. With any luck it'll be a good thing.
Fingers crossed.

 

[Iwannaduc]

I certainly don't think you'll have any issues. I got a similar set from Amazon, GP Motor is the brand I got. I took a look at their stuff and it's very similar in construction to the stuff we used where I worked at the time. It is certainly not a poorly constructed product.

I used the set I got on my 996, though I did also buy a set of Saamco stainless steel hose clamps to fit them. I figure, the better the hose clamps, the better the seal you'll get with little or no disfigurement of the hose itself.

Been on for nearing 3 years now without any issues. I did have to tighten the clamps up a bit after the first hundred miles or so as everything bedded in. Aside from that, no issues at all.

One thing you may, or may not notice is; the hoses are kinda not exact fit and you gotta fuxor around with them a bit. Several of the ones in the kit I got were a bit too long or I had to swap them end for end to get them to fit around bends correctly.

Not a huge deal really for the price I paid....which was under $60. I liked them so much, I just ordered a set for my GSXR600. It is now 15 years old and the stock hoses aren't looking so good anymore. That set, from the same brand was just $39.....sean

 

[HiFlite]

I and some others, had good luck with AS3 Performance hoses and clamps from Great Britain. Also, ~$100.

https://www.as3performance.co.uk/ducati-st4s-st4-s-2001-2005-high-performance-silicone-radiator-hoses-black/

https://www.ducati.ms/forums/40-sport-touring/688457-new-coolant-hoses-320-a-4.html#post6950455