fork brace - again ...

[BORDER,RYAN (HP-FtCollins,ex1)]

Hello- This past weekend, I purchased a KLR650: 1995 9000mi Avon rubber (pretty new) Progressive springs Moose guard Soft bags Manuals Lowering Links (extra, not installed) Black (custom) paint. Here are some pictures: http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_1.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_1.jpg> http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_2.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_2.jpg> http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_3.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_3.jpg> http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_4.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~rborder/KLR650/klr_4.jpg> I sold 2 of my little street bikes (A Honda CB360T, and a 450 Nighthawk) to buy the KLR. It will do dual purpose, as my run-around town/commuter bike, and it will be used to chase my 7 year old son around on his DS80 dirtbike; which, much to my wifes dismay, his grandfather (my side) bought him for Christmas. I'm looking forward to tapping the groups experience for info on this bike. Anyways, here's my first question. I've got the motor opened up a bit to do a valve adjustment. Here are the measurements I have: Left Intake: .127mm fits easy, .152mm does not fit Right Intake: .127mm fits easy, .152mm does not fit Left Exhaust: .152mm fits, .178mm does not fit Right Exhaust: .178mm fits easy, .203mm is snug, .229mm does not fit Everything is within spec (.10-.20intake; .15-.25 exhaust), but the left exhaust valve appears to be on the tight edge of the Spec. BTW, do you all believe in these Specs? For instance, the nighthawk I sold ran much happier with the exhaust valves set tighter than my Chiltons manual called for... Do the valves in these motors tend to tighten, or loosen with use? ie; if you're doing a valve job, should you strive to have things on the loose or tight side of the spec range? Is the left exhaust vavle near the end of it's service life with this shim? I'm in here this far; if it makes sense to change the shim now, I'll do it. I opened it up for a couple of reasons: The guy I bought it from claims to have only put 50mi on the bike in the year he owned it. Along with the manual, he had a bunch of web-page print-outs on valve adjustments given to him by the previous previous owner (why? me wonders). With only 9K miles on the bike, it seemed plausable to me that the valves had never been done. Plus, at lower RPM, opening the throttle caused sort of a "brap brap brap" sound... maybe something getting by an exhaust vavle. Than again, maybe that's normal for these bikes. OK, one more: any good tips on checking/adjusting the "KAR" compressioin reduction mechanism? Ryan. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Frosty]

What's the best fork brace for the money out there? There's a lot of talk about the Super Brace and there's the K9 that supposedly resolves the fork boot issue. There are a couple others, but it seems to boil down to these - unless you guys have any opinions - LOL!! Thanks, Frosty