Does anyone know of a fork brace that you can purchase off ebay that will fit the S40?  I dont want to spend $160 for a Superbrace...I want to go on ebay and get something for under $50 bucks...any suggestions?

verslagen1 wrote on 08/01/12 at 18:04:46:



From where to where would you be welding.
My suggestion - its spoked wheels and long spindly legs pretty much negate any need for a fork brace. it flexes, fact of life.
Cool.
Srinath.

I got the tkat and love it. I can't remember what I paid for it anymore though.

How about making your own. Get some half inch aluminum sheet, drill and cut to fit. Only tools needed are: digital calipers, hole saws, regular drill bits, saw to cut the metal, tap, countersink bit, and drill press.

Since it is aluminum you probably could use inexpensive bimetal hole saw bits on slow speed with lots of cutting oil. McMaster Carr has sizes every 1/16th inch up to 1 7/8th.  

After you try it on and like it then you can go back and trim it to a more pleasing shape. If you don't like it you haven't spent much time or effort or money.

I am sure all you real machinists would think it too crude but not all of us have CNC machines to use. The hard part for me would be keeping the pieces vertical when drilling the through holes on the drill press.

John in Kalifornia

In general, the fork brace is too skinny to keep one side the same height as the other.  The axle will do a much better job of that.

Now that being said... keeping the two sliders in sync side to side and fore and aft are the real benefit to the fork brace.  It literally doubles the strength of each slider.  When you brake, one slider is twisted, the fork brake prevents the wheel from turning to the left by keeping the sliders aligned.  On groovy roads, when the wheel takes off from side to side, the sliders act together rather than twisting like a pretzel.

The brace can be made this way... but will take a few tries and may take many.  It will be difficult to drill all the way thru the edge for the clamping bolts w/o drifting to 1 side or the other.  And getting the fork nests the exact distance apart won't be easy, don't kid yourself on this 1, it has to be dead nuts.  Cut a pilot hole for both sides and make a sanding drum a little smaller than the fork.  Fit 1 side then the other, this will give you the opportunity to match the spread.

Or design a little adjustability into it.


You don't need a whole lot of adjustment, so oversized thru holes for the bolts could work.  Just require a bit of attention during the final fitting to get the ends matched up.  And I would plug the open end of the threaded holes,  keeps sh!t out and looks better.

The best way to "get so smart" is to try to figure out how things work by yourself and only ask questions when you get stumped. If you only ever ask questions, you will only learn 1/3 right, 1/3 wrong and 1/3 useless. Remember: The course came before the college.

braveteacher wrote on 08/01/12 at 17:30:51:


Good luck!  I suppose you could buy 1/2 of TKAT's brace now and put the other 1/2 on lay-a-way.  If your willing to spend $50 to correct a problem, real or perceived and $50 won't get the intended results, the solution is to live with the problem or buy an excellent product at a very competitive price.  I purchased a TKAT brace for my S40 and am very pleased with the product and results.  Your mileage may vary.

The brace the Tkat makes is a freaking deal at just $99, including shipping in the US.

Otherwise, pay the extra and get a Superbrace for about $160 + shp.

Either way, you will be installing it within a week and saving yourself thousands of $$$ worth of frustration.