A fork brace is a piece of metal, usually aluminum, that you bolt between the two lower sliders of your front fork. It prevents flex in the forks and makes them rigid so that you get less wobble on uneven roads, turns, and at lower speeds.

I'm with 360k on this... I think most people that buy fork braces, are actually looking for the benefit of a steering damper...

Our stock front fender is steel and has extra metal reinforcing in it... I don't notice any difference between my bike without a fork brace, and my buddy Gerry's Savage with one...
Gerry, on the other hand swears he does... as do many others...

For problems like speed wobble, and highway wind buffeting, and brake shudder, a steering stabilizer does the job...
Fork braces just might make a difference with uneven road surfaces and tar snakes at low speeds...

I come from dirt riding, and tend to be insensitive to these... ...

JMHO... ...

Man!... there is so much wrong with that "simulation"...   ...

Serowbot wrote on 06/15/12 at 11:25:06:

No there isn't just over done,I had a that brace on a bike 35 years ago I thought it helped,Since that bike I had 10 others and never thought about using it again,I got on here and they talked about it and S40 has small forks so I got one and had it on 3 days after I got the bike so hard to say how much it help,The place I notice on the first one because I had the bike a while before I put it was going around bumping curves it helps.If you live in the south and the ground doesn't freeze,I wouldn't think you will notice it much.Because your road are smoother.

I've ridden bikes with and bikes without. The longer the fork tubes the more noticeable the difference. Even with its puny fork tubes, the front end on our bikes isn't very flexible. The springs on the other hand are pretty light. So it might help balance out side to side rate differences.

Want a real difference? Get a steering stabilizer. Not cheap but worth every penny on rough roads, especially with primitive hydraulic forks. Side by side, my 1963 Honda's fork are more advanced than those on my 1998 Savage.

You can find good stabilizers at shops that handle cafe racer parts. Try www.fastfromthepast.com for a good starting point.

I've seen different methods, but most employ a tiny shock absorber connected between one fork only and the frame.   It dampens the steering as the shock takes up small jerks and vibrations caused by the road.  It also gives the steering a kind of squishy liquid feel from side to side.

babyhog wrote on 06/15/12 at 11:11:22:

That looks RIDICULOUS and totally wrong. From what I understand is that the brace is to prevent the individual forks from getting out of sync with each other. Without the brace, the only thing keeping the forks at the same position is the axle, which is pretty friggin' small. A steel fender will do the trick but a plastic fender on a sportbike? Not-so-much.

I've seen plenty of companies that sell products, even very popular products, that have no idea what they do.