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I rode my 2008 XL883 for two years, most of that time with a fork brace. On a Sportster a fork brace is, in my opinion, a very necessary suspension add-on. When I bought my 2009 Dyna Super Glide back in October of 2009 I wasn’t sure that those beefy 49mm front forks would need a fork brace, so I put off buying one. The Dyna, stock from the factory, didn’t exhibit any of the twitchy front end issues that are the hallmark of the XL series. The bike was stable in turns and it had great straight-line directional stability too.
Based on that assessment, I don’t know exactly why I broke down and ordered a Super Brace brand fork brace for the Dyna, but I did. I put it on last Thursday and put the Dyna through its paces over a three day period. It is fair to say that I was surprised that the fork brace changed the handling of the Dyna as much as it did. It was not as pronounced change it was when I put a fork brace on the Sportster, but it was nevertheless a marked improvement.
The first leg was a series of country roads that have more than their share of tar-snakes, patches, and other road defects. It was immediately noticeable that the Dyna took pot holes and road depressions a lot better than it did without the fork brace. I guess that will the flex in the forks gone that the front wheel was able to get through these sharp dips in the road with a lot more directional stability. This effect was there no matter if I was going in a straight line or on a turn. This Saturday on the Blue Ridge Parkway those treacherous dips just east of Mt. Mitchell were a lot less jarring. In some cases I could just barely feel the bike roll a little instead of the usual harsh jolt. I was not expecting that. I actually turned the bike around and rode that section again just to make certain that I had not missed the parkway maintenance crew’s lack of repair prowess. I hadn’t.
Tar snakes and road level changes are pretty much nonexistent. Before the fork brace the Dyna handled tar snakes with ease and only wandered a little on the worst of them. Changes in road elevation were most noticeable at freeway speeds. With the fork brace different road heights, which are usually found around road construction projects and old roads, were a lot smoother. Crossing them didn’t create any twitchy front end movements.
Cornering was the area where I didn’t expect to see any significant improvement over the stock front end. I was wrong in that assumption too. Tight corners as well as sweeping turns are more precise. That is a lot to say considering how well that bike cornered before the fork brace. The difference was as pronounced as when I switched from the stock Dunlop tires to Metzler ME880’s.
When I put the fork brace on my XL883 it produced a sense of stiffness when I turned the bike at normal road speeds. It took a little while to get used to how that felt. The Dyna does not feel any different than it did before the fork brace was installed. By that I mean that the feedback from the handlebars is not any heavier or stiffer. It just handles better and takes road defects better than it did before.
I would recommend a fork brace to Dyna owners. Even if they don’t push their bikes hard the benefit of better control and a smoother front end ride are worth the cost. The brand of fork brace that I used is SuperBrace. There are online dealers like onestopmoto who have them, Dennis Kirk doesn’t, or you can order directly from the factory. Installation takes about ten to twenty minutes. It is one of the simpler mods that you can do to your bike.
A word of caution – if you tend to push your bike had in the corners and use the feedback from the front wheel to let you know when you are getting near the limit of traction be advised that a fork brace tends to dampen that feedback. With a fork brace you can push you bike into a front-end drift or slide without getting a lot of warning. As we all know, drifting a 700 pound cruiser on asphalt or concrete is something that should be avoided. This is not a big problem and once you are aware of it you can adjust your approach to fast corners.
Based on that assessment, I don’t know exactly why I broke down and ordered a Super Brace brand fork brace for the Dyna, but I did. I put it on last Thursday and put the Dyna through its paces over a three day period. It is fair to say that I was surprised that the fork brace changed the handling of the Dyna as much as it did. It was not as pronounced change it was when I put a fork brace on the Sportster, but it was nevertheless a marked improvement.
The first leg was a series of country roads that have more than their share of tar-snakes, patches, and other road defects. It was immediately noticeable that the Dyna took pot holes and road depressions a lot better than it did without the fork brace. I guess that will the flex in the forks gone that the front wheel was able to get through these sharp dips in the road with a lot more directional stability. This effect was there no matter if I was going in a straight line or on a turn. This Saturday on the Blue Ridge Parkway those treacherous dips just east of Mt. Mitchell were a lot less jarring. In some cases I could just barely feel the bike roll a little instead of the usual harsh jolt. I was not expecting that. I actually turned the bike around and rode that section again just to make certain that I had not missed the parkway maintenance crew’s lack of repair prowess. I hadn’t.
Tar snakes and road level changes are pretty much nonexistent. Before the fork brace the Dyna handled tar snakes with ease and only wandered a little on the worst of them. Changes in road elevation were most noticeable at freeway speeds. With the fork brace different road heights, which are usually found around road construction projects and old roads, were a lot smoother. Crossing them didn’t create any twitchy front end movements.
Cornering was the area where I didn’t expect to see any significant improvement over the stock front end. I was wrong in that assumption too. Tight corners as well as sweeping turns are more precise. That is a lot to say considering how well that bike cornered before the fork brace. The difference was as pronounced as when I switched from the stock Dunlop tires to Metzler ME880’s.
When I put the fork brace on my XL883 it produced a sense of stiffness when I turned the bike at normal road speeds. It took a little while to get used to how that felt. The Dyna does not feel any different than it did before the fork brace was installed. By that I mean that the feedback from the handlebars is not any heavier or stiffer. It just handles better and takes road defects better than it did before.
I would recommend a fork brace to Dyna owners. Even if they don’t push their bikes hard the benefit of better control and a smoother front end ride are worth the cost. The brand of fork brace that I used is SuperBrace. There are online dealers like onestopmoto who have them, Dennis Kirk doesn’t, or you can order directly from the factory. Installation takes about ten to twenty minutes. It is one of the simpler mods that you can do to your bike.
A word of caution – if you tend to push your bike had in the corners and use the feedback from the front wheel to let you know when you are getting near the limit of traction be advised that a fork brace tends to dampen that feedback. With a fork brace you can push you bike into a front-end drift or slide without getting a lot of warning. As we all know, drifting a 700 pound cruiser on asphalt or concrete is something that should be avoided. This is not a big problem and once you are aware of it you can adjust your approach to fast corners.
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