happy-trails fork brace

[Steve Anderson]

I wrote a few listers with a specific complaint about the klr front end: I've noticed that under hard front braking that my front forks twist quite a bit. I'm guessing that the braking force being applied to the left fork is causing the twist. If I watch my handlebars while braking hard, I can see that they turn to the right (obviously I'm the one turning them to keep the wheel pointed straight) in proportion to how hard I brake. The right grip may go back as far as about three inches easily when trying to lock the front wheel up from 10-15 mph. Sure seems like a lot of twisting going on there, and it certainly would explain "squirrelliness" while braking in turns. Have you noticed this prior to mounting the fork brace? If so, did you see a reduction with the brace? If so, how much? Thanks a lot, Steve Anderson BTW, it sure seems to me that when the engineers designed the klr way back when, they were designing it to compete with the other japanese dual sport competitors like the XR(L) 600, XT600, etc. I figure they designed the bike thinking it would be a 300lb bike like the competitors, and once they were done, it weighed something more like 400lbs, and they just shrugged their shoulders, and figured it looked cool enough anyway. Might explain why the suspension / braking components seem built for a smaller bike.... ================================================ Anyway, if any of you want to get an idea of how much the front end can twist, approach the bike from the front, put the front wheel between your knees, and grab the handlebars, and turn 'me - go ahead, I dare you. It made me feel almost frightened of the beast. I installed a Happy-trails fork brace today. The braking test explained above showed greater than an order of magnitude improvement!! The two or three inches of twist at the handle bar end during the hard braking, is now less than a quarter of an inch. The bike feels completely different [to me], and I am eager to get it out on a good ride. I want to feel how the high speed cornering is, and how the bike handles in various off-road conditions. Kudos to Happy-trails for an essential [to me] upgrade. Steve Anderson