Fork Brace (RPM flavoured or otherwise)

[nurse]

Have finally arranged for a set of fork springs and valves to jet their way to this side of the pond.  Was just wondering who's running the fork brace as well, who finds it makes a difference (be it +ve or -ve!), are you running it with or with out fork upgrade?

Does the brace simply reinforce and promote unified operation of each leg or are their other advantages.

All mewsings welcome!

[JMR]

 The U.S. Kawasaki race team was run by a fellow named Rob Muzzy and I remember what he said about the use of fork braces. This is not word for word but close enough for this conversation. "If you have a system such as a motorcycle and you eliminate flex at a spot such as the fork legs, you simply move that energy to another location. In other words, the stress now moves up the line. If the fork got stiffer, the head tube area will be stressed more, if you stiffen up the head tube area the flex will move further down the chassis.
I did not write this but I do remember when Muzzy spoke of it. He did not use fork braces on the old 1025 Superbikes or the later GPZ based 750's


http://www.sentex.net/~abiggs/kawasaki/photo-66.htm
http://www.sentex.net/~abiggs/kawasaki/photo-54.htm

[FJmonkey]

The brace reduces fork flex, bowing out away from the wheel. So it keeps the slides and tubes ligned up, less side load on the internal bushings and seals. It also reduces stress on the front fender.

[Mark Olson]

The short answer is yes , it makes a big difference .

no matter if the front end is stock or modified . This was tested by myself and another fj'er on a ride we took about a year ago. I installed the fork brace on my modified front end with fzr wheel and race tech springs with emulators and used it for the first half of the 160 mile run thru twisty roads and straight roads. The front end felt planted and the twitchyness was gone from crossing over expansion joints and uneven pavement. It is amazing how fast you get used to it being on the fj. In the middle of the ride I switched it to the other fj so Craig could try it and see if there was a difference for his stock front end. I missed it at once and thought something was wrong with my forks. Craig was amazed at the difference and did not want to give the fork brace back. Both of us came to the conclusion we had to have one. I had borrowed it from another fj'er to try out and ended up buying it that day. I was happy to have it back on my fj , but Craig had to wait for RPM Randy to finish making them so he languished until they were ready.  We are both spirited riders and were able to see the effects right away of a fork brace. All fj's need a fork brace and all types of riders will see an effect from using it. At the very least it will keep your fender tabs from cracking.

[Arnie]

I had a fork brace on a previous bike (XV1000RH) which has much spindlier forks than the FJ. 
I was not able to tell the difference from before it was installed.
I have no fork brace on my FJ and the fender tabs are not cracked.  This front fender was replaced about 4 years ago, but the broken-in-accident fender also had unbroken tabs.
Maybe all you hero-riders just ride and corner much harder than I do.

Arnie

[andyoutandabout]

I like mine - it's a black RPM model. Sorts out a bunch of front end vagueries. Should have been a Yamaha standard. Glad Randy made these.
Andy

[JMR]

I like mine - it's a black RPM model. Sorts out a bunch of front end vagueries. Should have been a Yamaha standard. Glad Randy made these.
Andy

They have a brace that spans the forks. It certainly is better than the inner braces run under steel fenders from the past. I have used ATK, Telefix and CC product braces in the past. Single rotor front ends certainly twisted under heavy braking (especially with aftermarket fiberglass fenders)....the brace helped some but they still twisted.
I ran a Telefix unit on my 87 FJ for years.....I removed it and to be honest never noticed a difference. I run a late model front end now with emulators, R1 calipers etc and it works well. Things like light rotors, calipers etc really help (Speigler flull floating on my latest front end). My original 87 forks were run with a full Brembo system.
I thought the Telefix/ATK mounting system was OK has it allowed for manufacturing differences between machines to reduce binding.
To each his own.