I've had a few inquiries about these fork protectors...here it is again. 2" PVC available at Home Depot, lowe's, or any plumbing supply house..I chose to get the pre-cut shorter lengths rather than an 8' piece, they were in better shape with less scratches. Cut your pieces for the bottom sections a tad long and file any excess to get a snug fit so none of the gold shows through. The top section pieces will run right to the top edge of the gold just below the fork seals. Now you'll need to remove a strip of material about 1 5/8" wide from top to bottom, make sure it's the side with the lettering..DUH. I used 2 methods to remove the stripe, the first was a hack saw and then a Sawz-all with the tube placed in a vise, make sure you wrap the clamped part of the tube, this stuff scratches real easy. I beveled the inside edge where the strip was removed, a standard file worked well, seems to help when pullng the sleeves on/off. For this next area you'll need a Dremel tool or anything that will allow you to route out material from the areas where the sleeves contact the larger diameter areas on the forks, it'll be real obvious. It's late and I'm bleary eyed, if my description sucks hit me up for some more detailed pics, dementions or whatever, all in all pretty simple for a the smart bunch hanging out here. Oh yeah...I got the finish looking a bit better with a little elbow grease and Mothers metal polish, the blue paste type, and just for piece of mind I used some zip ties on the top of the upper section, the protectors fit very snug and their probably not necessary, but like I said...piece of mind.
Did you paint those fork protectors or were they black PVC tubes. Still trying to figure out how they stay in place and how would you remove them. Would you by chance have the actual dimensions of a completed cover ...even better if you had a photo and/or hand drawing of a completed fork protector (ie. not installed). Thanks. Roy
I'll post some pics removed from the bike asap...might be a day or 2, crazy work week ahead. There really wasn't many options on diameter of PVC, I think it's 3", as described in the earlier post, remove a strip of material about 1.5 inches from top to bottom, bevel the edges...it'll be obvious where to do this and they'll snap right on, their very snug and won't move or spin. The PVC was purchased black, I just cleaned them up with some Blue Magic paste metal polish to get the color as closely matched to the surrounding clamps.
Fairly certain the material you have is ABS pipe. Im a plumber by trade , Ive cut a "crap" load of this pipe Did you cut the pipe in half to fit clip over the legs or did you remove fork legs/upper crown/stanchion bolt and instal as whole? Man I love the whole black look of the fork...almost makes me want to paint my crowns.....but thats for another winter maybe. Thanks for the post.
Are the black sleeves open where the 1 5/8" strip is removed, so that the fork shows through from some angles? Great idea. Thanks for the post.
I assume that you stop the PVC at the top seal to allow for compression of sliders? Can't really see in photo..as for "it is black" my GSA comes with the "black" Again my assumption is that this is to primarily 'protect' the forks or is it to create a 'look'? Why I ask is that my sliders [above the seal] are well protected by body panels/fender.
You do really nice work, very clever and well executed. But to me, this seems like a solution without a problem. What exactly are you seeking to protect your forks from?? Just asking, not being critical.
I'm thinking some poly vinyl type of film would accomplish the same thing. I saw a post were one of the Ocker's covered a large percentage of his bike with signmakers vinyl and it looked stunning. Not knocking just saying, why strap 2 pounds of plastic on your forks when a couple of ounces of thinner plastic will suffice?
1) The poly vinyl film doesn't really work on the spun aluminum areas I've covered, their not smooth. 2) The front side of the forks are susceptible to rock chips, no harm done other than cosmetic. 3) The PVC protectors stop just below the fork seal completely covering the gold areas and don't effect travel. 4) Once snapped into place I rotated as needed so as not to see the slice of material removed from the PVC when viewed from the side. 5) Not even close to 2 pounds...I doubt even 1, if you want me to weigh them I will. The protection is just a bonus item, losing the gold bits was the objective....TOUGH CROUD.
There has been similar protection available for years, for MX bikes. I have a pair of Yamaha carbonfiblre one's fitted to the bottom of my 1150GS forks, for the same reasons as given by the OP. Being CF, they are incredibly light & flex open enough that they just clip into place without requiring any dismantling - they don't even need cable ties to hold them in place.
Yeah, I'm going to do the same - for the same reasons: after long rides and over time, the fork legs always end up pitted from road debris/rocks. The black color is a BIG BONUS! Brilliant idea, Trusound!
Not a 'tough crowd' ..just one that has questioning minds! Protecting sliders from dings makes sense indeed, protecting the lower forks from road dings is a personal matter and is cosmetic, but none the less one that is valid when you make that decision on your bike cuz' you want to... The suggestion: remove the PVC protectors periodically to check for corrosion/etching...road salts or sand/debris trapped between PVC and protector could do damage. Or just ride the bike off-road, relax and enjoy putting on all those "character marks".. Hey TS..in your photo at top of this thread..it appears that you have PVC above the seals and that there is not much distance from the top of the top PVC over the sliders to the steering head and "full stop"...do they limit the range of compression? Just curious.
It was the corrosion I was thinking about. these will be an air space between the tubing and the aluminum. In addition to water getting in there, there will be all kinds of other detritus becoming entrapped in that space. Even if an indivdual were dedicated enough to regularly inspect; I suspect corrosion and probably chaffing (bruising for the Brits) will still occur. Thats why I think some kind of applique (sticker) would be a better solution.
I used 3mm neoprene sheeting to fill the small gap behind mine. I have taken them off a few times & checked, over the years, but found nothing of concern.
Completely agree with you Wallow...periodic removal for grit check is quick and easy. The bottom section is captured and didn't require a cable tie, on the top section I put them on for safety, I'm at about 1500 miles with these things and they haven't budged. One thing I didn't mention. The gold section has a slight bevel where it passes through the clamps and bottom, it required beveling the inside top and bottom edges of the PVC to get a flush fit where the PVC meets those beveled areas, I hope that makes sense...
Nothwithstanding my comment to just accept the dings as 'character marks' this is a kool low tech and lightweight fork protector...I do also think the thicker film sheets that come on some vehicles to protect paint would also work well...but again, she may be a beat-up old broad, but she is mine!
I've been looking for some similar protection but not pvc, something more like fabric... I found this picture in the F650GS/F800GS thread: I also have something like this on my bike's lefty, its a "lizard skin" but i doubt it will be big enough to cover the motorcycle's fork Anyone have any idea of where i could find something like this that would fit the motorcycle's fork?
