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Fork Boots
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
A friend of mine keeps going on and on and on and on, etc; about how I should install fork boots to protect my forks from accelerated wear and tear because of dirt getting into the fork seals. He reckons it's now not fashionable to use them but very sensible to get the maximum life out of your forks.
Any opinions on using these and can you still buy them?
Winco
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Accepted wisdom (I think, or at least my humble opinion...) these days is that they're a bad thing because:
- they mean you don't pay any attention to your seals once they're on
- you'll get some dirt down there even with them on
- if you can't see the dirt under the boot it's more likely to build up and get under your seal
- the boots were never a very good seal anyway, having to wrap round arches etc
- the plastic ones were worse than useless, actually holding dirt against the seal and negating the wiping action of the seal
- they wipe off the thin film of oil that you need on the stanchion.
And they're fugly
Seals have gotten a lot better since the boot was booted, all you need do these days is wipe off the obvious crap around the seal after every ride and you'll be fine.
So to sum it up just fork it, its not worth the forking hastle
putting a boot on