Alright, so I removed my front fender 2 weeks ago because I much prefer the look without it. That just leads me to a most likely stupid question... but is the piece of metal the fender bolts to between the forks a brace for the front end, or is the only purpose of it to hold the fender off? I think the bike will look better without it but don't want to rip off something important!

It's a fork brace and not only do you want to keep it you want to get a thicker/stiffer one.

Quote from: Slack on November 25, 2012, 06:51:01 PM
It's a fork brace and not only do you want to keep it you want to get a thicker/stiffer one.

I dunno about that...
Seems to me, if the fork brace stays on the weak side.. then if you hit a nasty bump, you are more likely to tear up the fork brace. Whereas if its a strong brace... a nasty bump is more likely to bend the forks.
Which would result in spending a lot more money, and work, to fix.
Replacing a fork brace, is somewhat easy.

So if the above is true, it depends on a person's priorities

My beefy fork brace is super nice in the bends, makes the bike feel soooo much more connected to the road, like a precision machine.

QuoteAlright, so I removed my front fender 2 weeks ago because I much prefer the look without it.

I thought so too, until I rode in the rain.

Looks like I'll keep that brace on, thanks guys! 

I don't ride in the rain either, I've got a truck for that, so I'm not too concerned. Might put it back on during summer, but thankfully it's not going to rain until about february here anyway

I have no data to back this up, but if you were worried about hitting a bump hard enough to bend the fork brace instead of the fork tube shouldn't you be more worried that said bump is probably going to throw your ass in the ditch. I can see where a stiffer brace would help, I've been riding for almost a year without anything and it does seem to get squirrely on more challenging roads.

You cant bend the fork legs without running it into something. The brace tries to keep the lowers together ... but well ... it does litte more than hold that fender on ... thicker brace basically tries to keep the lowers together. It helps handling under braking mostly. However I also have had GS'es that the brace did nothing ... but on others it was a big improvement ... no idea why/what.

Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: Huff1371 on November 27, 2012, 12:33:47 PM
I have no data to back this up, but if you were worried about hitting a bump hard enough to bend the fork brace instead of the fork tube shouldn't you be more worried that said bump is probably going to throw your ass in the ditch.

yes, precisely :-/

I've had one downer, where the screw holes in the brace tore a little. but the forks were okay.
Then I had a different one,where the brace looked relatively fine. but the forks got messed up

Then again, on the first one, my fairings also absorbed a lot of the impact too.

The fork brace isn't there to take the shock of hitting a pothole. It keeps the forks from wanting to spread apart and twist, keeping the front tire pointed in the direction you tell it to go. Obviously, if you wreck, any number of parts can be bent or broken.