Cheapest price fork brace???

[sparkfly88]

I've looked at getting one on and off, still havent jumped the fence on getting one..

I know I need it, I can feel the flex in my system.

Someone posted a link to this site and I happened to find this, at 99$ I think this is the cheapest I've found a brace.

Any experience with it??

http://www.fastfromthepast.com/servl...-XS1100/Detail

[Schming]

The difference between the Tarozzi, you have pictured, and Tkat's brace is the material they are both fabbed from.

Tkat's is billet and Tarozzi is cast Al.

I can't seem to find the price on Tkat's but i don't believe it is much more than the Tarozzi.

http://www.tkat.com/forkbrace.html

HTH

[trbig]

Do you ride hard enough to NEED a fork brace?

[sparkfly88]

Well, relatively to other people, most likely not....

But, at highspeeds, while changing lanes or maneuvering I can feel my front end dislike changing directions....and it feels like jello sliding around

Ive had the death wobble ONCE and hated every milisecond of it..

And yes, everything is torqued to spec.

[D0wn5h1ft]

These bikes were never meant to be run with fork braces since they are the old style that had flex designed into them. Newer sport bikes will obviously have fork braces as well as some dirt bikes because the job demands it. I know if you remove the front fender it's recommended that you put some sort of fork brace there since you are obviously lowering the effective moment of inertia.

Tkat quoted me a price a couple months ago for $105 through email and I think it hasn't changed. I've heard nothing but good things from them and it does seem to tighten up your front end. $105 worth of improvement? Not sure.

[jetmechmarty]

New springs and fluid will do more for you than a fork brace, IMHO. Should you decide to install one, the Tarozzi should provide identical performance to the Tkat. Mike's XS has the hoop type. If your XS11 is a standard, the XS650 brace fits as well as on either bike. The hoop style brace is cheaper, but you'll also suffer some increased stiction.

[sparkfly88]

I rebuilt the forks not too long ago, and put new fluid in them...didnt put new springs though..

It is a standard.

Stiction??? what?

[crazy steve]

Stiction??? what?

'Stiction' is the term used to describe the friction that must be overcome when the forks move. The three major components of it are the fork seals, fork oil, and fork alignment. There's not much you can do about the seals and oil, so alignment becomes the critical factor. A fork brace helps with this but the older design welded braces aren't as good as the machined units.

You'll also get stiction if your fork tubes or lowers aren't in the best shape; pitted tubes or dented lowers can sharply increase stiction (sometimes only at certain points in the fork travel) so that bears looking at.

[sparkfly88]

Tubes are beautiful, no pitting, no dents.

When I rebuilt them I made sure they slide nice and smooth and there was no dragging in spots

[Schming]

I rebuilt the forks not too long ago, and put new fluid in them...didnt put new springs though..

It is a standard.

Stiction??? what?

Stiction is the static friction that needs to be overcome to enable relative motion of stationary objects in contact.

In other words the sliding of two parallel objects that are connected must stay parallel throughout the the course of travel.

Each fork, itself, slides in a telescoping manner and when they are connected by the trees and front wheel they have to be set up parallel to avoid resistance also known as "Increased Stiction." CMIIWP

Oops, Steve beat me to it :-)

[rdmcguy]

fork brace

I bought a tubular type on ebay awhile back and have noticed a big improvement in rigidity.
I will add that it was a PITA to install and that the brackets that hold the brake lines away from the front wheel are no longer usable.
I can't complain for the 20 bucks I spent,but if I ever buy another it would probably be a tkat .
I notice a bit of ass wiggle now that the front is tightened up
Better on one end than both I guess,Time for shocks!

[WMarshy]

These bikes were never meant to be run with fork braces since they are the old style that had flex designed into them. Newer sport bikes will obviously have fork braces as well as some dirt bikes because the job demands it. I know if you remove the front fender it's recommended that you put some sort of fork brace there since you are obviously lowering the effective moment of inertia....

Not so sure about that. Any motorsport engineer understands increased rigidity results in a better more repeatable/predictable machine. The flex from the forks is just plain due to the limitations of the design/materials. A side affect, so to say, from the design.

I think its easy to say the designers seemed to be focused on power and comfort and less on handling. "Flickability" really wasnt a consideration at that point in history with liter bikes, or at least it was "tolerable".

The front fender offers little support to the forks. They are just sheet metal and can be flexed by hand if removed... Taking the fender off has no effect on moment of inertia (WTH are you talkin about?). Moment of inertia is the mass property of a rigid body that defines the torque needed for a desired change in angular velocity about an axis of rotation. In common talk, think heavy flywheel = large moment of inertia.

[motoman]

These bikes were never meant to be run with fork braces since they are the old style that had flex designed into them. Newer sport bikes will obviously have fork braces as well as some dirt bikes because the job demands it. I know if you remove the front fender it's recommended that you put some sort of fork brace there since you are obviously lowering the effective moment of inertia.

Tkat quoted me a price a couple months ago for $105 through email and I think it hasn't changed. I've heard nothing but good things from them and it does seem to tighten up your front end. $105 worth of improvement? Not sure.

Really?.......may wanna re-think that initial response. Aside from the flex(put bike on centerstand, abruptly shake bars back and forth and watch front fender in relationship to tire), the only support in that location depends on the internal slider guides. Attach a fork brace and you'll almost fall over from bikes response in first 5mph turn, plus the fact it'll take the load off the slider bushings. Something to think about as those ARE among the 'unobtanium'.

[jetmechmarty]

Stiction can be measured in your forks. Sit on the motorcycle and push down on the forks. Allow them to rise. Have your assistant measure from the top of the slider to the lower triple clamp. Record the measurement. Pull up on the bars then allow the forks settle down. Have your assistant measure the same two points again. The difference between the two measurements is your stiction. Split it when you set laden sag.

[James England]

A fork brace makes a huge difference to an XS1100 and you don't need to be riding especially hard in order to feel the benefit. The bike is heavy, the OEM brace in the fender is not up to much and the fork stanchions are small diameter. Any talk of "flex" being designed into the bike is incorrect. The flex is there, not deliberately by design, and needs to be minimised. I've put a brace on every XS I've had and it is immediately noticeable once installed.

If you look on eBay, you may find a vintage one like Micron, or Telefix. They allow the slider seal covers to be used