Good morn'in fellas, it is wednesday "hump-day", just make it to noon and it is all "all down hill" from there. Unless you are a sucker like me and have to work on saturday mornings....

I ride a 2006 fxdwgi, my first bike dirt &/or street, great bike on the highways and straight-aways of the road, but honestly not such a great performer in the corners. Honestly could just be my lack of expierience, but i've been looking into putting on a fork brace to "tighin-up" the ride out front. I would really appreciate some input from the guys that ride these machines not from the fella trying to sell me a part.... THANKS

 

I installed the Screaming Eagle brace. It was on clearence at the dealer for $115. Easy to install. I recommend you check the length of the bolts because mine were too short.
the service tech looked at me like I was an idiot and then apoligized when he looked for himself and saw that I was right. He checked two other kits and found the same bolts. They gave me longer bolts and I was off.

As for installation, I recommend jacking the bike up to take the stress off the forks before tightening up the brace.

It looks good and makes a huge difference in handling; especially riding two up.

 

Big THANKS for the info, KTM_SCOTT.... especially about the 2up riding. I'm hoping that I can come up with a sweet deal on one for the 06 dynas fitting the 49mm forks.

 

do you have to take off the front fender? or did the brace fit over the stock front fender?

 

I put a brace on mine and it helped some but did not clear up the problem completely

It still liked to crack walk.
I finally found out what the problem was. The front wheel bearings are shimmed and for some reason, there was some play up there

I had it adjusted correctly and the problem went away 100%
I just never thought to look at that. I only found it when I was having the tires replaced.

The bearings were not bad, just too much side play in them.

You might check that before you spend a hundred bucks.....it is a real cheap fix if it is

BTW, the brace will go on without taking the fender off. Takes about 10 minutes to install

 

If you're looking for a fork brace, check out Custom Cycle Engineering. They make some of the best ones.

Having said that, are you riding the stock Dunlop tires and stock HD suspension? If so, you will see much more improvement in the performance and ride by switching to better rubber (personally I like the Avon Venoms) and suspension (ie Ohlins), than you will by adding a fork brace.

 

I ride an '07 wg, and you have to take into account the longer front end / increased rake of the WG. It's never going to handle like a superglide/street bob/low rider (due to their tighter rake). It's just a small price we pay for the looks of the WG.

 

With a 49mm Wide Glide front end you will not see any real gain with a fork brace, the forks are not long enough or flimsy enough to warrant a brace. I have one on my 41mm WG front end, when first installed I imagined it making a big difference until I took it off to use a new fender, it was then I noticed at best they are a placebo. I still have mine, but it is there for looks only.

A brace will not do anything for crack following, that is a function of the rubber you are running more than anything else, or as stated above poor setup on your front end.

If you really want to change something that will make a big difference get some good tires like Metz ME880's or Avon's or something better than Dunlops, especially with a skinny 21" tire.

 

That's kind of the way I feel. Mine came w/ one on it, and I like the way it looks, so I left it. Not sure how much it's actually doing though.

 

I installed one not long after I bought my bike in early '08. The SE Brace for 49mm forks had been discontinued, but some were still floating around on ebay and HDealerships. It went on the stock lowers and dust caps just fine. When I bought the chrome lowers kit, the new dust caps said they were incompatible with the SE Brace (or vice-versa). The new caps slip down over the shoulder milled into the top of the lowers, instead of butting against it, so they sit lower. With the lower-extending dust caps, the Brace would hit the fender by 1/8" - 3/16". Since I liked the look of the dust caps supplied with the kit, I opted to pull the fender and hog out the mounting holes which allowed me to move the fender down & closer to the tire, and provided just enough clearance for the Brace...about a folded red shop-rag's worth. (See pix)
The WG front is pretty stout as is, so the "more solid feel" may have been more psych than actual. If it were proven to be entirely ineffective, I'd still have it on my bike just for the visual...it really looks tuff as hell and gets plenty of compliments. And +1 for the too-short bolts supplied.