Fork Boots.

[ishaw]

Re:

Calm down people.

I've bought many damaged forks for the internals, most have had rock/stone strikes on the stanchions rendering them broken. One set of sids I bought had a stone wedge between the lower leg and stanchion causing some severe damage. Not saying a boot would have prevented it, but it could have.

Agree that dirt can get in behind and cause wear (much like mobile phone cases) but my need is to prevent scuffs and scratches caused by less than careful storage in bike racks. Again, like a phone case. Yes, it might get lightly scratched when dirt gets behind it, but when you drop your phone, it's a phone saver.

Any options out there on good neoprene ones. Dont want a scratchy on to start with, it will do damage without the added dirt.

 

[dyna-ti]

:roll: You carry on.

Aye well thats the thing isnt it.

 

[slomo]

Re:

It's slightly bizarre :?

When i'm not riding my bike (that is; it's at home or being transported) i protect the fork stanchions with a fierce determination :|

The last thing i do before actually riding the bike is remove the protective little socks that i have made for my precious forks.

Thereby exposing said precious forks to all manner of nasties when they are at their most vunerable :?

Body armour does prevent broken bones - so on that logic fork boots are a good idea.

In short, i think i probably should use them when riding, but i dont.....bizarre huh?

 

[Lacuna]

Re:

I would never use them. Fork seals are perfectly adequate to keep the muck out and the oil in; my 2003 Monster T's are still on the original seals and they're fine. As discussed there is a risk of damage from muck getting trapped inside. Stanchions are comfortably hard enough to withstand normal rock strikes without damage and a millimetre of rubber isn't going to help in a big impact. Most importantly though, modern forks were designed to have maximum slider overlap so at full travel there is only a few millimetres of exposed stanchion; any boots would detrimentally impede the action of the fork.

They look crap too.