Beware the Bug Bones!

[kenai]

Hi All - was talking with a retired Honda dealer and he mentioned that they use to sell shields in front of front forks to keep
bug bodies from hitting the forks and blowing seals....anyone confirm this buggy story!

[tlbranth]

Never heard of it but seems like a dried on bunch of bugs could wear the seals. Shields? That's what gaiters are for.

[hoganJr]

standard equipment on a GL1500

HoganJr

[Whiskerfish]

yea I have seen the little chrome shields before

[salukispeed]

Stone chips also do damage to the chrome and can raise sharp edge that murders the seal too.

[delling3]

Yup, any debris build up on the fork tubes can contribute to fork seal failure, as can stone chips as mentioned. Those fork gaitors has a purpose besides being used to make a Café style bike! Most every new bike today comes with some form of protection - whether you are talking gaitors or shields for that reason.

[77Gowing]

Sounds like I should get a couple sets of gators for my wing and my new Indian.

[5speed]

learn something new every day..

[Rat]

The only part of the bike that I regularly clean ....

Gord

[tlbranth]

Here's what I did

[Whiskerfish]

Yep regular maintenance is important. (Another one of my Military stories sorry guys) On helicopters in the Navy we do a Daily inspection looking for defects. Part of that requires that the landing gear struts and the flight servos exposed pistons are cleaned and wiped down with clean Hydraulic fluid basically before every flight. Makes a big difference in their longevity.