Fork Brace

[zore]

Taking the XZR550RR SP0 F82 out thru some twisty roads with some other ROV members on saturday had me thinking of a fork brace.  Anyone care to comment.  Is it a noticable difference in handling?

[Lucky]

Huge difference, the problem is that they are now hard to come by. there was a guy selling them on Ebay about once a month, but that has ended..

Also, steering head bearings & good tires make huge differences too.
--Lucky

[Superfly]

Try This:? vintjfan@snowcrest.net

He said that he only had 1 left, and I got it, but you never know!

[Lead_Deficiency]

My bike had a fork brace when I got it, but when I changed over to the twin rotor set up I found the difference in handling was huge (not just the improvement in braking).

[zore]

Thanks. 

[Mutt]

I was bidding on this one last week. http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/pict/45844482766464.jpg

It was listed as a lower triple tree brace. There's a limit to how much I was willing to pay for a used one without knowing what kind of condition it was in. Even so I thought it was going a bit high. It went for about 65.00 plus 5.50 shipping. I believe you can get a brand new Telefix for 129.00. Again that's more than I'm willing to pay.

Mutt

[Glyn]

Can you still but a new telefix for the Vision? or another make new?

[Superfly]

I did some reasearch a while back:

http://ridersofvision.net/forum/index.php?topic=3188.0

[Cdnlouie]

When I first bought my vision and rode it around a few highway ramps I nearly freaked out with the horrible flexing of my front end.  I was not excited about the Vision at that point but decided to do the fork brace upgrade and became totally satisfied with the product.  It's not just a nice piece of aluminum, it really worked for me.  I could feel the difference as soon as the bike began to move from a stop.  The rigidity changed the whole feel of the bike.

It took a few rides just to get use to the changes in steering attitude and then it just became a very smooth and confident ramp hugger.  I have even added a half fairing (aftermarket) to the front and it is very stable at all speeds.  Of course this was a few years back and I have not seen these again.  It was a nice five piece design with air deflectors to stabilze the wheel at speed.

Be patient and keep looking, they should show up from time to time,

Louie

[Glyn]

I was just wondering what the exact centre to centre fork tube distance is and also the top diam of the sliders to where the brace fits. My measurements are 185mm centre to centre and 55mm diam fork slider. Could any one confirm this correct please.  They always quote these 2 measurements when selling brace's.

Cheers

Glyn

[vavision]

I say buy a chunk of aluminum at the junk yard (pieces around me go for about $1 a pound) and pay your local machinist $30 to fab one up for you. Cheaper, custom built, and you can probably get him to write Vision or your name on it if he has good equipment.

[jasonm.]

If you have good set of forks...which most don't. The brace helps a little. You have the typical sloppy worn sliders. Makes a big difference. Yes, most(50% + 1) of you have worn sliders. Just a simple trait of the trailing axle design.

[Extent]

I thought about fabricating one out of cross braced square tubing and a shear plate, but I haven't been bothered to find a metal supply place around here to get the ~2 1/4" pipe to hold on to the sliders.  From the test cases I've done in FEA with .5" tubing and 16ga sheet you could make a structure that's about 3.5 time stiffer than an otherwise equivilantly sized 1.24" 6061 slab, and I'm pretty sure most fork braces are thinner than that :p

[Cdnlouie]

Jason, if the worn sliders create the slop (assuming I might be in the 50 percent group) they must have been rather loose from the factory as my Vision had only 7000 miles on it and it handled quite terribly.

Perhaps on another note, my Vision does have some excessive sag (about 42mm instead of 30-35mm recommended for street machines) in the front (for 180lb rider and a heavier rider would be much worse) which I have not changed yet, which gives it a much softer ride and probably not as steady for cornering, but my fork brace made a major difference (under the above conditions and with good condition tubes), rather than a little.? I intend to correct the sag to a firmer setting this winter not that I really have any problems for my current driving style, but just for interest sake.? Some guys might want to check some of the other components of front suspension to improve things, at least until they have a crack at a fork brace somewhere along the line.

Winter is a good time to tweak,

Louie

[dtknox]

You asked if anyone was still selling the Telefix barce. I purchased one form Spec II five years ago and they still list. It is expensive, $130.

http://www.spec2.com/clips.html#braces

Ride Safe

Dale

[Glyn]

I've just picked up a Micron alloy brace off an FZ750 off my local trade me site. Has a detachable top plate which I will have to shorten a little. The clamp are 59mm diam so need some split shims making up for the XZ forks. Already found some s/s pipe at a boat shop which will need some minor lathe work to fit to the Vision forks. Will let you know how it works out.

[kiawrench]

Rather than try to have braces cut, or hunt up ones that we know are too much, i contacted the best source we have had, vintjfan at e-bay site. He has agreed to look for us through his channels, locate as many as he can, and then post directly to our forum, in the tech page, letting us know how many he has found, and prices /shipping. sort of under the table deal, for our mutual benifit.

right now he is out of stock, but his last going listings were in the 35.00 range, but only to members of this forum, this  was due to the rapid,fair and prolific deals he made with many members, both past and present. Hope this works out for all that are looking for a brace.

[smknjoe1964]

Thats Awesome Kiawrench ! Keep us updated !

[Mutt]

Oh yea, I'm in!  :)

Mutt

[Superfly]

I bought a brace from him, and it was around $35.  Mine was brand new (still in the box) and plus, he was a nice guy.