Just wondering where I can get a pair of the neoprene fork gaiters?

BVM sell them

neoprene fork gaiters

Mr B

I cant remember whether your forks are anodised.

Is the action of the neoprene gaitors likely to wear the anodising off fork stanchions when dirty/wet - this is something I have always wondered?

Hopefully someone can answer my question.

If so perhaps the alternative of 'old fashioned' fork gaitors (like on my TLR) would be an alternative.

Gordon

anodised.

Well corrected should have said

titanium nitride plated

But the question I still have is this as good as traditional hard chrome - I dont think so - look at the amount of bikes with worn/discoloured coated fork legs. hence my original question

But the question I still have is this as good as traditional hard chrome - I dont think so - look at the amount of bikes with worn/discoloured coated fork legs.  hence my original question

i have run neoprene gaiters and dont suffer with rubbing on my pro (!) forks

Edited February 4, 200521 yr by lastplacebrad

I bought a pair for my 2001 TXT and modified them.

I cut them up the middle and then sewed on a big plastic zip making sure there was enough material under the zips to stop the zip rubbing. This made them easy to remove for cleaning et cetera.

I had them one for a couple of years and never saw any wear.

Lewisport do them or use to.

Just wondering where I can get a pair of the neoprene fork gaiters?

Pyramid Parts stock the Viper neoprene gaiters, http://www.pyramidparts.co.nz/pages/neoprene-seal-savers cant see them currently on their UK site but they do have them.

You still get wear on chrome just not as much. The chrome goes very shiny where the fork seals sit most of the time, the chrome gets more dull as you travel up the leg to the yoke so this shows the chrome wears as well by fine particles and seal contact - a bit like polishing.

Personally I am not a fan of gaitors but I am a fan of popping up the dust wipers and leaving the gap under the wiper to dry. I also clean the oil seal with a feeler gauge to keep them in good nick and grit free.

I could be wrong but the gaitors still allow moisture into the seal/wiper area but they also work as a filter by removing the large particles and keeping them out the seals but this means the finer and potentially more damaging longterm particles still end up in there with moisture. This slips past the seals and causes the damage by entering the oil easily and working as grinding paste in the fork internals. This moist and fine grit mix is great for rusting your seal retaining clips also.

You could remove the gaitors after each ride to clean and dry these areas which would help but then this becomes an extra hassle. I reckon that most people will not bother.

A bit of simple maintenance keeps seals and wipers going for years so this is the way ahead I feel. The other bonus of leaving them exposed is you can see if anything is damaged easily. One good point og gaitors is they may offer a tiny bit of protection to the stanchion if your lucky if you fall off on rocks.

Edited July 18, 201214 yr by pindie

Totally agree,remember when I did a bit of mountain biking you could get gaitors to help keep muck out of the headset.

All it did was seal all the moisture in.

Personally I don't like my bike to have the Ena Sharples tights look.

Be interesting if you wnet on an MTB forum and asked the same question. Gaitors just hide maintnence. Hidden (read avoided) maintenance costs you more in the long run.

Aye but most of the mountain bike guys would not be seen dead with mudguards on the bike - how many trials riders would not use mudguards if the Regs permitted?

In the twinshock days I always used rubber gaiters (front and back) and it was no trouble to leave them loose between trials to ensure moisture evaporated. I, reluctantly, stopped using them when fork travel got to the point that the gaiter was fully compressed before the fork travel limit was reached - no point losing an inch or so of movement to keep the chrome nice.

Frankly (and I concede I don't ride in a predominantly muddy area) there seems to be no problem with the modern exposed stanchions in terms of wear due to being unprotected. I've never fancied the neoprene stuff for reasons mentioned above.

I did not pursue gaiters on the mountainbike, though I was inclined to, for the loss of travel reasons above. I've had no problems with wear based on just wiping after use though many mountainbike users of an American fork seem to suffer very severe wear under conditons nowhere near as bad as the average trials bike sees.

Totally agree,remember when I did a bit of mountain biking you could get gaitors to help keep muck out of the headset.

All it did was seal all the moisture in.

Personally I don't like my bike to have the Ena Sharples tights look.

Ena Sharples?

You're as old as me if you can remember her !

On reading this and having just done the feeler guage on my Rev 3 fork seals (which solved the problem) I was tempted to pack the area under the wiper with grease or even vaseline (ooh err missus !) but then decided it would just hold any debris - or was it an inspired thought?? probably not I'm thinking or everyone would do it.

Never fill the void! it will attract *****.

Another way to protect your fork stanchions would be trick bits long fork protectors not expensive, easy to fit& remove protect lower legs as well which generallty are more prone to being bashed. Just a thought