With this step I am finally moving my focus to the bike now that I have secured all the parts that I will need and reconditioned the calipers. This step is pretty straight forward but there are a few things that made it a little easier. The day before I was planning to remove all the brake components, I opened up all the bleed screws and loosened the reservoir tops. I put trays under all of the calipers and let the system gravity drain for a day. This removed just about all of the fluid. The next evening, I removed all of the calipers and found that the lines had completely drained and were bone dry. I did not want to remove the fairing as others had noted (i just had the fairing off doing a coolant flush and oil change in the Spring - and just did not want to pull it apart again). The soft lines were easy to remove. For the two hard lines that link the rear system to the front system, I unbolted the front of the gas tank like you were doing an air filter change, and was able to get sufficient access to remove the lines. I did have to cut one of the hard lines - so no turning back now. I have a pic below of the calipers removed from the front and rear. And also a pic of all the stuff that comes off the bike that will not be reused!
Me too. It is not that much of a weight savings, but so much less complicated without all those lines.
i think you would be surprised if you took just the cast pieces and then the caliper brackets, it comes out to something around 4 pounds off hanging on the forks. --Tip -- May as well install speed bleeders now to avoid the bleed it hassles later. Recommended - the SB8125L - it has a longer nipple to grab on too.