Fork Brace - holy cow!

[Drew Blanchard]

Last weekend, I finally got around to installing the fork brace I got from
Dave (admittedly, many weeks ago).  Job would have taken 30 minutes or less
if I hadn't been an idiot and misinterpreted a key piece of Murph's
instructions (which was embarrassing when I figured it out).  Took some
trial and error with shim fitment (no feeler gauges) and I was done.

It's hard to express how differently (and better) the bike handles now.  I
was truly shocked by the immediate,  night-and-day difference.  My wife and
I live in the woods in Vermont, with a dirt driveway leading to .5 miles of
dirt road before we reach civilization.  The GPZ has always been really
nervous when negotiating this (really, really rough) road, but I attributed
it to the general unsuitability of sporty bikes on this terrain (my old
Super III was a bit better, but also 100+ pounds lighter).  As soon as the
front tire left our smoother driveway, I experienced something new: rock
solid stability.  The big GPZ made it to the main road with complete
composure and stability.  All the rough pavement common on our back roads
was no longer a problem; no more trammeling, no more head shake, just smooth
riding.  For the first time ever, I could actually *feel the front
suspension doing it's job.  *

**I'd been debating reworking the front forks (my last '95 had a Race Tech
cartridge emulator kit and I loved it - and, sadly, it's no longer
available) to sort out the GPZ's one real fault (in my opinion), but this
fork brace has done everything I wanted and more.  I can't recommend this
enough.  I was completely unaware of how much wiggle was happening in the
front end over our rough roads.  With that eliminated, I'm falling back in
love with ol' blue (named Barry - but that's another story).  That weekend,
Jan and I took part in the Ruff Ride (we raised almost $600 for the local
Humane Society) and I got to experience 120+ miles of pure stability and
comfort.

If you don't have one yet, get a fork brace!  There must be more floating
around out there...

Drew in VT

-- 
Drew Blanchard
Technology Teacher
Winooski City Schools
Normand St.
Winooski, VT 05404
(802) 655 - 3530 x6073