klr k-9 fork brace... my thoughts (long post)

[k650dsn@aol.com]

This weekend I finally got around to the "re-installing the K-9 fork brace from Happy Trails project". I was going to go through and elaborate procedure to make sure there was no binding in the forks, but decided to check how well my quickie installation at Fred's worked. I removed the fork caps and springs moved the front wheel up through its range of travel. Everything was perfect. Not even a hint of binding. Great! So I drained my fork oil, put my springs and caps back on checked tire pressure and road the KLR. This is a summary of what my KLR's front end has. Old style Progressive front springs with Progressive spacer springs instead of preload spacers, 10wt oil, MAP oversized rotor, Dunlop K139 with 22psi and heavy duty tube. I won't bore everyone with the gory details, but in a nutshell, this forkbrace makes a huge improvement in the front end behavior of he KLR650, especially when running an aggressive knobbie in front. I found myself getting a bit over confident in corners with the newfound stability, even with the K139 in front. While I would not say the front becomes rock solid, the twitchy-ness is all but eliminated, expecially at freeway speeds in excess of 65mph. I can put my finger on it, but braking also seemed a bit more controlled to me, but that may be psychological. Off-road it's hard to tell any improvement. I think the biggest inprovement was with the Dunlop K139/D606 combo. I took the KLR into a local arroyo and it seemed to track fine, just like in Moab. I did notice that the front end seemed to shrug off the effects of hitting a rocks off center when it would usually kick to one side or the other. Again, this could be more dur to the stiffness of the Dunlop sidewall, but I'm sure the fork brace helps some. I'll let everyone draw their own conclusion, but I'm glad the K-9 is on my KLR. Gino