I'm a sucker for period accessories, a regular ebay bargain trawler and own a BMW that doesn't quite have the handling to match it's power. It was just plain inevitable that I would end up with a fork brace for the '76 RS. Very much of an era the fork brace was the child of wobbly seventies and eighties Japanese frames and once upon a time as popular as a set of expansion chambers.
Never mind that the logical steps to making my Beemer decent handling would be new fork springs, rear shockers and a fresh set of tyres. These would cost a lot of money, the fork brace was a mere tenner. I feel this is very much in the spirit of the era.
The brace I bought is made by San Jose BMW from the States. This is the early version in two pieces, more recent ones come with a cross piece that holds them together. The first thing that you notice is that it is a heavy item, mmmm..... unsprung weight. None-the-less I plowed on and fitted them. Before anyone mentions, I know that the plastic bolts holding the mudguard on are number plate bolts - they came with the bike. I have since bought a nice set of shiny stainless bolts.
The net result? Yes, absolutely no discernable difference in handling. Anyone out there got a cheap good set of dial-a-rides and progressive fork springs?
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| The original BMW brace. Also serves the function of keeping crud away from the fork seals. Those Germans knew what they were doing! |
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| First try. It wasn't immediately obvious which way round the two braces were supposed to fit. This way worked but the mudguard line was very slightly off. |
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| That's better. The correct way around. |
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| Period accessory. Yes. Different. Yes. An improvement? Probably not. |
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