Fork Braces!

[nora2004]

Just thought Id post this up, I recently purchased a Coerce fork brace from Ebay, not so much for the handling aspect of it but more for the added feel when under heavy braking!

Anyway, once it arrived it took no more than 5 mins to fit, few bolts and your done! However I also thought it'd be a good idea to whip off the fork tops just to make sure there was no pinching etc, and for the sake of 2 mins work its just good practice!

So move on a weekI finally got to take the bike out for a proper hoon yesterday, destination was the lakes, head through wolsingham, teesdale, high force, alston, Hartside and into Penrith to my caravan for some lunch! lol

The front end on the bike feels different, not like a smack in the face improvement, but everything it does just seems a little bit better, it feels tight, almost solid when cornering, the biggest area of improvement was entering a corner, the rate it drops in is very alarming when not used to it! lol

Now this is easy to achieve with a rear spacer, which I have, but it made the bike much much more controllable at any lean angle, the feedback and feeling you get is just magnified, making you want to push harder! The transition between full left to right and vice versa also seems quicker and again tighter!

Under braking, well I dont know what it did really, previous to this it was rare Id have the back end skipping about under braking on the road, however yesterday I seemed to be doing on every corner, gives a real feeling of satisfaction feeling it lift about! lol

Cost £100 with postage, just wish Id fitted one earlier now, its a must have on a sorted front end!

Next up is a Penske 8983 shock Ive picked up from the Superhawk forum, should be here early next week, then thats it, all the handling mods I could ever want done!

Now, just need to find more time to tide the thing now! lol

[gilson]

Hi there. Thanks for the write up, been thinking about one of these for a while for my track bike.

Will think even harder now!

[stormingjoe]

+1 you'll backing it in next!!


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- Fatty on a motorbike ;0D

[AMCQ46]

Hi there. Thanks for the write up, been thinking about one of these for a while for my track bike.

Will think even harder now!

I have been thinking the same, thanks for the motivaton

[gl_s_r]

And yet another person here been thinking about adding a fork brace.. have the same item in my watch list on eBay but more so to copy the item and make it in the CNC workshop I look after.

If I do this would anyone else be interested in a English made and no brand name fork brace as that write up has pretty much decided the fact for me that I will be adding one to the bike?

[CB_Phil]

Have same one on one of my bikes & gotta agree, great addition. Looks fantastic & adds to the overall feel of the front end

[AMCQ46]

The write up has pushed me over the edge and I ordered 1 last night!

if you need one measured to set the CNC program, let me know........I wont take too much commission from each sale

[gl_s_r]

Looking at it in the pictures, I just presumed it is simply two clamps at either end with a polyester insert and a flat bar bar between them. I was going to measure the diameter of the legs and the pitch between them on my own bike and make them to that. If you would like to measure yours or you know these dimensions then that would save me the walk up to the garage .. the width/thickness of the brace would be handy to know...

[gilson]

It doesn't look too complicated to make one does it.

I'd be interested in buying one from you.

I haven't planned a track day for a while.

The reason why Roger changed the front forks to the blade forks on his race bikes was because of the forks starting to bend on braking. Very few of us mortals would notice this or even have the skill to bend the forks on breaking. (maybe if one weighed 20stone...yeti?;) ) but this is side flex, so maybe worthy of a punt.

Let us know your plans on making one.
Thanks.

[AMCQ46]

When I have it in my hands I will do some measurements and take photos of any design features that might need to be considered.

getting the center to center distance will be critical to ensure no binding, when I made fork brace for my racing MZ I made then from 2 parts and the overlap was slotted to prevent binding. So will see how Coerce deal with that, and what material & thickness they use for what looks like a plastic sleeve

[gl_s_r]

I was going to measure across the ground surface and get the centres from that, try the nylon/polyester to a couple of mm thick and then go from there. Be interesting as to how they hold the plastic insert in there and if it sits in a groove or is bonded. They will not take too much to make or too long to be honest.

Look forward to your information and thank you for this... Maybe i'll make the sprocket covers a well while I am there.

[gl_s_r]

or maybe a design like this... just two solid pieces?

http://www.superbrace.com/proddetail.asp?prod=2260-01

[gilson]

Doesn't look as cool as the coerce one. This one looks quite old fashioned, in fact it looks like a part from a Harley.

Will you be making it to the same spec? High grade Ali etc?

[gl_s_r]

I will almost certainly make the parts out of HE30 or 6082-T6... it is cheap and easy to get hold of here and machines easily.

a description from a materials site as follows:

Alloy 6082 is a medium strength alloy with excellent corrosion resistance. Alloy 6082 has the highest strength of the 6000 series alloy. Due to the higher strength of Alloy 6082 it has replaced Alloy 6061 in many applications. Alloy 6082 is typically used in highly stressed applications, Trusses, Bridges, Cranes, Transport applications, Ore Skips, Beer Barrels, Milk churns

I could make them out of the mechanically tougher 7075 or 2014 but these don't like to be hard anodised and the 6082 should be more than enough to cope with the stress looking at the size of the brace itself.

I was only looking at the two piece option as I wondered if it would be less prone to flexure between individual components as there were less pieces etc and no bolt on span between the clamps, you can always change the looks with a different design, it wouldn't be a problem to design one that keep everyone happy.

In fact if anyone wants the design changed in any way to make things better or a whole new design completely then i'll just make what ever is the general agreement

[gilson]

You know your stuff, no further comments from me;)