Why aren't fork lowers/tubes/stanchions covered?

Tflyvt
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Tflyvt
Edited Date/Time 9/8/2020 10:47am
after riding a muddy sand track just after a storm myself and a few of my friends bikes fork seals all started leaking. It's something we've all dealt with before, but It got me thinking; why arent the lowers covered/sealed? even a small scratch on MTB forks causes them to leak, similar deal with mx, except ours are closer to the ground and tire. So why don't MX bikes come with covers like xr100's do on the fork lowers? I've seen seal savers, and to me they just seem like they would get sand/dirt under them and keep it there (being worse than just having no cover).
For example these behind the standard fork guards:
https://wac.edgecastcdn.net/001A39/prod/media/IEfMBhMzlTdFd97site/8338F…
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sandtrack315
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sandtrack315 9/8/2020 8:38am
9/8/2020 8:38am
My guess is heat. Heat is bad.
Motodave15
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Motodave15 9/8/2020 8:41am
9/8/2020 8:41am
Good Question, Now you got me thinking. i have no idea why
Broseph
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Broseph 9/8/2020 8:48am
9/8/2020 8:48am
Fork covers on an XR100 are not usually sealed either. If they were, they’d puff up like balloons when the forks compress. I think you’d run into a similar problem with big bike forks. You’ve got these covers that are 13” long... where does all that material go when you use up 12.5” of travel? Where does the air inside these sealed bellows go? Also, keeping all that away from your brake rotor might be a challenge.

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kb228
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kb228 9/8/2020 8:58am
9/8/2020 8:58am
Broseph wrote:
Fork covers on an XR100 are not usually sealed either. If they were, they’d puff up like balloons when the forks compress. I think you’d run...
Fork covers on an XR100 are not usually sealed either. If they were, they’d puff up like balloons when the forks compress. I think you’d run into a similar problem with big bike forks. You’ve got these covers that are 13” long... where does all that material go when you use up 12.5” of travel? Where does the air inside these sealed bellows go? Also, keeping all that away from your brake rotor might be a challenge.
To add to that when i took them off my xr100 they were full of dirt.
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O&GDriller
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O&GDriller 9/8/2020 9:25am
9/8/2020 9:25am
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of track time. We install them before riding a new bike and the results speak for themselves.
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Teej317
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Teej317 9/8/2020 9:33am
9/8/2020 9:33am
Good topic....I also run Seal Savers products and feel that they help. Not a perfect solution, but my seals lasted longer. Anyone have better luck running the SKF mud scrapers?
dkurtd
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dkurtd 9/8/2020 9:43am
9/8/2020 9:43am
We learned in the 80's that fork boots, although a good idea in theory ended up not being that good of an idea. They ended up holding dirt and mud in causing seal failure in most cases faster than if they weren't installed. Once installed most people never took the clamps off and lifted them up to clean them out until the fork seals started leaking.
Tflyvt
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Tflyvt 9/8/2020 10:11am
9/8/2020 10:11am
O&GDriller wrote:
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of...
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of track time. We install them before riding a new bike and the results speak for themselves.
If you just put them on the bikes from new how would you even know if your seals were leaking? all the oil would be squeegeed and soaked up by the seal savers?
soggy
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soggy 9/8/2020 10:36am
9/8/2020 10:36am Edited Date/Time 9/8/2020 10:37am
O&GDriller wrote:
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of...
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of track time. We install them before riding a new bike and the results speak for themselves.
Tflyvt wrote:
If you just put them on the bikes from new how would you even know if your seals were leaking? all the oil would be squeegeed...
If you just put them on the bikes from new how would you even know if your seals were leaking? all the oil would be squeegeed and soaked up by the seal savers?
No a seal saver can't soak that much oil and it would be obvious if it was soaked in oil.
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O&GDriller
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O&GDriller 9/8/2020 10:40am
9/8/2020 10:40am
O&GDriller wrote:
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of...
My son and I've run Seal Savers since 2010 on KTM air forks and have not had a single seal failure over approximately 2,000 hours of track time. We install them before riding a new bike and the results speak for themselves.
Tflyvt wrote:
If you just put them on the bikes from new how would you even know if your seals were leaking? all the oil would be squeegeed...
If you just put them on the bikes from new how would you even know if your seals were leaking? all the oil would be squeegeed and soaked up by the seal savers?
soggy wrote:
No a seal saver can't soak that much oil and it would be obvious if it was soaked in oil.
Yeah, what he said. I'd like to think most people look/inspect their bikes frequently enough to know when there is oil where it shouldn't be...
Dirty Points 9/8/2020 10:47am
9/8/2020 10:47am Edited Date/Time 9/8/2020 10:48am
$2k on bitchin' rainbow coatings and we gonna throw an $8 boot over it? You trippin' man
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