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Are the Lifeline kits as bad as the CRC/Wiggle reviews suggest or did they just get unlucky? Need a longer rear hose and the official Avid kit is double the price! Happy to pay it if the Lifeline is rubbish though, unless there's another budget kit that's worth a try?
Given the grand scheme of things and general cost of parts, in particular brakes(unless its the cheapies) are brake hoses really that much of an outlay, even the good stuff.
The two comments on splitting would worry me - except for them being home mechanics so there's every chance they cut the hose with pliers and drove the barb in with a claw hammer.
The ones about flex and power loss I'd be more concerned about, if it were for a pub bike I wouldn't care, for a DH race bike I'd be considering if my face is worth more than the uplift in cost for proper brake hose.
Anything like this you need to approach with the realisation a good proportion of people are idiots but blame product for that. (look at how many folk complain about PF bottom brackets they installed with a hammer and a bit of wood not lining up properly).
You could buy 2 metres of hose and aftermarket fittings like banjo attachments that are reusable instead of the pre installed banjo you can't remove, superstar components do hose fitting kits cheap.