Oh yeah, does anyone make a fork brace for this GS500? After owning a Concours, I consider FB as an essential item.
Also Progressive front springs. 8)
The Buddha makes them, I have have one of his and it works great.
Quote from: black and silver twin on September 09, 2010, 10:44:35 AM
The Buddha makes them, I have have one of his and it works great.
B&S,
What Difference did you notice from Before Brace to After Brace?
Where did you put it on the fork and is there really that much fork flex on the GS - I don't see any cracks in the front fender mounts which I guess could act as a kind of brace?
Michael
I noticed two definite improvements with the brace:
1. under hard front braking the wheel doesn't try to turn itself. I didn't even notice (and neither do you probably) the bike pulled in one direction under hard braking until after I put the brace on. a few days after I installed it I was forced to brake very hard ( :2guns: cagers! >:( ) and I was like "whoa, I have a lot of control all of a sudden!" the bike becomes very stable while braking.
2. hitting a bump no longer upsets the front end as much, especially when leaned over good and far. normally a hard bump made the front end shutter and any bump while leaned gave the bars a concerning wiggle. with the brace bumps just make the front end compress, which is what its supposed to do, giving much more control over bumps, especially while leaning.
Now if you have never ridden your gs hard you probably wouldn't notice the brace simply because you haven't uncovered the front ends faults. but if you do ride it hard (gigity) the brace will stiffen the front structure in-turn giving more feedback, control, and safety. Also if you remove the stock "brace" you will see how thin and flexible it is.
as for installation, it goes where the stock brace goes (or on top of the stock brace like I did) and requires the wheel to be removed, but its really very easy.
If you want to know how big a difference a brace makes, remove the factory brace and fendor.
FWIW, the Buddha part is priced so well that I wouldn't even ask; I'd just do it. If nothing else, it's a much more durable part than the stock brace.
Not only all of the above but the stock brace tends to wallow out the mounting holes and the problem becomes more apparent with age and milage.