Among KLR riders there are two schools of thought about installing a fork brace. Most Gen 1 riders seem to agree a fork brace will benefit the thinner forks on those early models. The Gen 2 bikes have slightly larger fork tubes so installing a fork brace is less a necessity and more about preference. I decided to install one on my Gen 2 bike.
I ordered the Eagle Mike Fork Brace on-line from Eagle Manufacturing and Engineering, it arrived quickly. Right out of the box, I was very impressed by the quality. It installed in about 10 minutes with a set of metric allen wrenches and was well worth the effort.
The bike had always handled fine around town but was much better on the highway. The brace had eliminated any fork flex and the front wheel felt very solid and stable as all speeds. Unless you have ridden with a fork brace installed, you don't know how much the stock KLR's handling can be improved. I recommend this upgrade to all other KLR riders.
As with many things in life, solving one problem often creates another problem, and it is the same with the fork brace.
To mount the brace, the lower end of the fork boots must be moved up from the stock position. With the brace mounted, the boots slide down and fit over the fork brace. That's easy enough, but the vent holes at the bottom of both boots are exposed. This will allow dirt and sand into the forks where they will eat away at the fork seals.
The bottom line here is; the fork brace is a great upgrade, but the devil is in the details and something needs to be done about protecting the fork seals from foreign contaminates.
Click the image above to read the follow-up from Eagle Mike regarding this post.
I ordered the Eagle Mike Fork Brace on-line from Eagle Manufacturing and Engineering, it arrived quickly. Right out of the box, I was very impressed by the quality. It installed in about 10 minutes with a set of metric allen wrenches and was well worth the effort.
The bike had always handled fine around town but was much better on the highway. The brace had eliminated any fork flex and the front wheel felt very solid and stable as all speeds. Unless you have ridden with a fork brace installed, you don't know how much the stock KLR's handling can be improved. I recommend this upgrade to all other KLR riders.
As with many things in life, solving one problem often creates another problem, and it is the same with the fork brace.
To mount the brace, the lower end of the fork boots must be moved up from the stock position. With the brace mounted, the boots slide down and fit over the fork brace. That's easy enough, but the vent holes at the bottom of both boots are exposed. This will allow dirt and sand into the forks where they will eat away at the fork seals.
The bottom line here is; the fork brace is a great upgrade, but the devil is in the details and something needs to be done about protecting the fork seals from foreign contaminates.
Click the image above to read the follow-up from Eagle Mike regarding this post.
