DR, Seems like the beefier top triple and fatter legs do away with the need for an additional fork brace...

 

Possibly overkill, I don't know how much it flexes.

Was thinking of an internal brace like this ...

 

The 'new' fenders (both ends - one black the other grey) are niceties, as the originals are in a sorry state and badly rusted. My current long ongoing project includes a 6 gallon tank (originally black) and later larger saddlebags (dark green!), so I was going to have to repaint the major parts of the bike, so that they are colour coordinated, but the fenders were the most unsightly, also the most difficult to restore.

 

I actually made a similar brace for one of my older bikes and bought a commercial brace for another. The front forks of the Touring bikes in particular are infamous for their flexing, mostly due to the awful top tree design. That is dealt with in large part by my CCE kit (I expect!), which should substantially improve the front end, by greatly reducing flex at both upper and lower levels.

I'm sure that bracing of the sliders would be a further improvement, but admittedly haven't taken any action to address it. A brace of similar design to that one, replacing the current fender mounting brackets, would certainly be worthwhile I agree. If it could be integrated with the fender, so the two fit the forks as the fender currently does, that would be a great solution.

 

Especially on earlier bikes, with 3/4" axles, the forks are very poorly supported. I once rode my Glide down a rock-strewn country track (never again - it was narrow and downhill with no prospect of safely turning the bike around) and the handlebars and front wheel might as well have been connected by elastic. It was a nerve-racking experience, wore me out while trying to avoid dropping the bike (it was fairly new at the time), but showed how weak the front end is.

That experience was due to two features of the bike IMHO: the awful top tree design; lack of support across the top of the sliders. Fork braces are less common these days, largely due to the larger diameter forks many bikes now come with, but in the past even H-D sold them as SE products. Unfortunately that is not something that can be easily adapted to fit any of the Touring range.

I am hanging my hat on that being the case! I do agree that a fork brace of some sort would be an additional benefit, but the CCE kit should itself be such an improvement I am happy to rely on that, to give improved handling and steering. I also have no plans to revisit that wretched rocky track!

A further comment is that with my 1" front axle, plus twin-row front wheel bearings, the support given to the sliders at axle-level should be a further small contribution to improved handling.

 

I can see the fender brace in the pic posted by Dun Roamin as a fix for a fender (only), but doubt that its design is beefy enough to act the same as a proper fork brace. During my last update to my Panhead, I actually welded the inside OEM brace to the fender, then removed the rivets and filled in those holes. Just a small detail that's hardly ever noticed by anyone other than me and a very few others. I did a similar clean up to the rear fender, but more intensive. It had a hinged rear flip section that I removed the hinge, welded the two sections togrther, and again removed the rivets. It's the subtle changes that I like; which your CCE triple tree mod falls into.

 

The CCE kit represents rather more than a mere subtle change IMHO! The 2014 Rushmore models have a similar top-tree set-up, albeit with 49mm fork tubes as an additional benefit. I can trace my viewing history on HDF way back to when I first registered the existence of the CCE kit and kick myself for not doing something more positive about it for so long! As an engineer I regard it as a proper engineering solution to a long-overdue Harley short-coming, which the MoCo themselves have at long last addressed.

 

I'm curious , anyone know if the new 49mm front end would bolt to the older frame?

 

Not without help, from what I understand, as the trees won't fit our frame! I seem to recall they use different head races. Howard of Motorcycle Metal has trees that will enable the forks to be used, although IIRC he sells them as a complete upgrade kit, trees with forks plus Ohlins fully adjustable cartridges. The ultimate upgrade, although not cheap!

 

Pardon me, by subtle I was only refering to "visually detectible" by the casual bystander, not performance related modifications that only the rider would appreciate. I'm thinking the average person walking around a CCE mod'd bike would not notice a different top tree, especially on a bagger with a fairing. I agree that CCE and Howard's solutions both brillantly solve a well known factory shortcoming. As funds become availible, I'll be doing this to my daily rider, as you have. Please continue to share your "fixes".