Chinese Silicone Radiator Hoses Quality Question

Explosion waiting to happen or as good/better as OEM type rubber hoses ?

This purchase will be for my race bike, I don't need them to be the cause of my next broken collar bone, next purchase could be for my car and don't need to be stranded on the road somewhere with a blown hoses either. 

That said, I think I may have just answered my own question.

Thanks,
Steve

My experience with silicone hoses is that they are much easier to damage than oem rubber hoses.   Easily damaged by hose clamps, chafing, or any slips of the screwdriver.  

I think of them as cosmetic. To be clear, this is for a bike? Is there a known weakness with the oem hoses? 

I don't have any experience with water cooled bikes, or any high performance bikes so I'm not clear what problems are typical.  Do you run coolant or straight water?

In reply to Tyler H :

There are no known weaknesses with the OEM hoses, other than the cost, and the silicone do look nice. But nice looking is secondary. Water, with water wetter, mixed per the instructions for track use. I do drain and fill the bike with Antifreeze for winter storage.

Thanks for the input.

+1 on fragility. I'd recommend rubber hoses with anti-abrasion sheathing if you want something better than stock.

One problem I've heard of with silicone hoses, especially the cheap ones, is their apparent porousness - you'll get a coolant smell in the engine bay and may even find that the outside of the hose is a bit slick.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Thanks again, it looks like Rubber OEM is it. The cost difference is not worth the trouble, or safety.

Steve

In reply to Tyler H :I used silicone hose before they were made in China with fantastic results.  

British made hoses were absolutely horrible. I swear they were made with recycled bubble gum.  Auto parts stores were one step up but seldom available in the size/ configuration I needed.  

Eventually I used straight thin wall aluminum tubing and rubber  bends and curved shapes  but never could go a whole season without at least one issue.

Silicone hoses solved that and I used bends and various shapes for almost 6 years without a single issue

I've tried (Samco) silicone hoses before, had no problems but I also had to hunt down specific "smooth" hose clamps which were harder to find in my size.

I wouldn't want to have to hunt those down on a daily driver that I needed the next day if a clamp were to get seized and break during maintenance, for instance.

For a race bike, maybe not a big problem. Definitely stock spares of everything, especially since Chinese suppliers tend to up and disappear.

Slight threadjack, but... some of the older Chev and (I think) Ford police cars could be ordered with silicon hoses.  Does what I'm reading here mean that – if a person happened to acquire one of those cars – they would require special clamps?  (Just another data point to keep in the back of my brain.)