fork brace to replace front fender?

[jimmyb]

I have taken the front fender off my cafe bike but was wondering if I need a bracket between the forks where the fender bracket was to keep the forks straight and moving together.
Any ideas?

 

[noahdog]

Short answer is yes. Here's a place that sells nice ones.... http://www.fastfromthepast.com/servlet/the-Fork-Braces/Categories
A lot of us add them even if we keep the fender.

 

[Kong]

As long as there is an axle between the two lower-legs they will move in unison with one another, either that or the axle will have to bend. You ever see anyone, even anyone who had dumped their fender and didn't have any sort of bracket, with a bent axle?

 

[Staffy]

It's not about bending an axle though. The top part otf the forks are held firmly, but the only part holding the lower fork legs is the axle. Because there's a pivot point at the joint between the lower legs and fork tubes you WILL GET FLEX without some sort of a brace. One thing you might find happen is your fork seals getting chewed out. I am having this exact problem right now as the 650 doesn't have a brace yet. The result is I've changed left fork seal 3 times since I bought it 6 months ago. I can also feel that front end moving around... a lot. Put simply if you can brace it easily enough, why wouldn't you?

 

[teazer]

Just because you have never seen a bent axle doesn't mean that forks don't flex and twist.

Try a simple test. Stand in front of your bike facing it and place the front wheel between your knees. Now grab the bars and push one and pull the other. Repeat the other way. How much did it twist? the permissible amount of deflection is close to zero. On any old bike the distortion would be excessive.

A fender helps to moderate that flex and that's what a brace does. It helps to stiffen the front end and that improves handling and that makes it safer.

 

[VonYinzer]

What bike is it? Most older bikes have a brace riveted to the fender (its what bolts to the lowers). Grind the rivets out, pop the fender off and bolt the brace back on. Not as good as many aftermarket ones, but its free and a ton better than nothing.

 

[Sonreir]

I JUST did this yesterday.
Like VY is saying, you can use a dremel to grind the rivets off of a stock fender and that will free up the brace.

 

[jimmyb]

Thanks for all the advice. The bike is a 72 cl350 I might just take the one off the old fender and pait it up. Thanks