Fork Guards; How Much Height Is Needed?

[TWILKIN650]

Stock plastic fork guards are 92mm tall and pretty well cover the exposed fork tubes when viewed from a "bug's eye" view from the front of the bike. Motorcycle Larry fork guards are about 50mm tall. Stock guards must have been made that tall for a reason. MCL fork guards must have been made that tall for a reason. Has anyone found the shorter fork guards cover the travel of the forks well enough not to worry about needing extra length? I kept the stock guards and could use the MCL guards as a backer to fasten the originals to if necessary. Data, opinions?

 

[C&C]

I, as some others that put on the Superbrace, found that the guards provided were alot shorter than stock. Some cut the orignal guards that were removed and epoxied them to the existing brace. I fabricated a couple of stainless steel extentions and epoxied (J-B Weld) them in place. If you are asking for advice, I would put on extentions.

 

[TWILKIN650]

I was thinking of using some of the remaining adhesive (Sikaflex-291 Technique Marine Sealant, made in France) left over from my install of the carbon fiber alternator guard. Cover the forks tubes behind the exisiting fork brace/protectors with plastic wrap to protect them, lay down a layer of adhesive on the back of the stock fork protectors and press them onto the front of the MCL protectors. Let cure and remove the plastic wrap. There shouldn't be much stress on the joint, so I wasn't planning on any additional screws to hold them in place. Does this sound adequate? Sure glad I kept the stockers!

 

[C&C]

It sounds okay to me. There isn't alot of stress on the joint but obviouly there is alot of vibration. If the material you're using is good for that type of joint, it should be fine.

 

[leebunyard]

I finally got around to installing the Superbrace a couple of weeks ago on my '04 FJR. The metal fork protectors provided with the Superbrace are several inches shorter than the OEM plastic fork protectors but I opted to NOT affix the plastic protectors to the Superbrace as others have done. I've ridden around 800,000 miles on streetbikes over the past 40 plus years (since age 14)--didn't have fork protectors on any of the 30-35 bikes I've owned (except the FJR) and have had only one instance of fork damage from a rock that resulted in fork seal failure. This was on my '87 GL1200 and we were able to remove enough of the small ding from the fork tube with emory cloth to get the new fork seal to work fine. After an additional 80K miles and at 166K total miles on the bike, the fork tube and seal are still doing fine.

Nothing wrong at all with using the higher plastic protectors--certainly a very good idea if you happen to ride a lot on roads with a lot of rock or gravel--but I just decided that the risk was so minimal that I wasn't going to bother with it. I did save the OEM plastic fork protector pieces and may decide to put them on later when I have more time, but probably won't bother.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)

 

[galxy5]

I also found the superbrace fork guards to be short,, sooo,,I cut the stock covers down the join line in the back,,,trimmed them along the bottom to give screwdriver relief for the Superbrace guard screws,, trimmed the stock ones down the sides so they slant back to the bottom of the brace,,, epoxied them to the inside of the SB guards and then used a small stainless self tapping metal screw through the sb guards to the stock ,, "looks pertty good ta me", and I am not worried they will fly off n bang into the radiator, chin spoiler or who knows what at speed,,