RGS fork gaiters

A

Arnstein

New member
Location
Kristiansund, Norway
Rubber gaiters on my RGS are same as H...a cb 750 k and fits without modification into groove for dust seals. Upper part needs a ring made, nylon or similar. The fork brace stiffens up the front a little of course.
 

Attachments

  • P1010038.JPG
    P1010038.JPG
    125 KB · Views: 39
I had gaiters for years but once I started investigating how my forks performed it's very hard to see whats happening with them. It's a shame they're not so easy to put on and off without quite a lot of work.
 
Vince said:
I had gaiters for years but once I started investigating how my forks performed it's very hard to see whats happening with them. It's a shame they're not so easy to put on and off without quite a lot of work.
Click to expand...
They’re easy enough to take off…

I had gaiters on a previous machine. I didn’t notice they had split and were collecting water. I ripped them off quick-smart!
 
Yep, it's easy to cut them off but I then needed to fit those short caps over the seal area and while I was at it I fitted those reduced friction forks and dust seals.SKF, the green ones. And the dust seals in that kit needed a fair bit of grinding to fit in the seal recess. It grew like Topsy in the end. It became a While I was their JOB
 
When I bought the RGS almost 30 years and 150.000km ago the fork was leaking badly, so polished off some scratching, put on new oilseals and the gaiters. Changed the gaiters 3-4 years ago because had started to split. Anyway, I think they are worth the job of changing considering the protection they give and no more oil leaks.
I had this thread about gaiters and brace in Julians thread "Techy stuff and why" which says "engine - chassis mods". The moderator says gaiters should not be under tech stuff so he made this new thread "RGS fork gaiters". I thought gaiters and brace suited well under chassis mods, but it seems I was wrong, sorry.
 
I like them, I had them on for more than 25 years. But you cannot do the cable tie travel measurement trick with them fitted so they had to go. Maybe I will fit them later as they do help keep the seals free from damaging grit.
 
Vince said:
I like them, I had them on for more than 25 years. But you cannot do the cable tie travel measurement trick with them fitted so they had to go. Maybe I will fit them later as they do help keep the seals free from damaging grit.
Click to expand...
It might be worth trying what I've done, on mine, since the '70s.
I moisten a loop of stockinette in WD40 and place it above the oil seal, under the rubber dust cap.
Change it every so often and, judging by how dirty the stockinette gets, this does seem to "filter" the dust and grit before it gets to the oil seals.
 
I’ve had the same pair of gaiters on my RGS since the 1980’s and while it is more difficult to do the fork travel test with a zip-tie, it’s not impossible. I just pulled the gaiter back from the stanchion, put the zip-tie on and went riding. I came back, pulled up the gaiter, checked the travel, snipped off the tie and pulled the bottom of the gaiter back over the stanchion. Easey-peasey!. After all how often are you going to do this check? Once a decade?
Also the big benefit of the gaiters lies not so much in keeping seals clean, but in having no pitting of the fork tubes from thousands of miles of sandblasting by road grit.
 
The ones I had were dirtbikes ones and quite tight, There was no chance of not moving the cable tie if I tried that. I spent a few months adjusting fork stuff, well I am still doing it.
 
Naa, just one more 1/2 a turn soft on the emulator preload, bit like just one more wafer in that Mony Python movie and the fat bloke explodes. The odd thing is some days it's great and some days it's as harsh as always. Might just be my imagination. What is interesting is the faster I go the better the suspension seems to work, trundle along and it's way more jarring.
Sorry, Mr Policeman I have to go hard or the suspension doesn't work.
 
Yer Bro, nuc my Imagination. South Park Quote. I guess some days I click with the bike and others I just don't. Some days I am one with it from the get-go and others it takes 1/2 a day to get sinked in. Laverda's do have a PERSONALITY for sure. They're far from Bland. That's why I like em
 
Vince said:
Naa, just one more 1/2 a turn soft on the emulator preload, bit like just one more wafer in that Mony Python movie and the fat bloke explodes. The odd thing is some days it's great and some days it's as harsh as always. Might just be my imagination. What is interesting is the faster I go the better the suspension seems to work, trundle along and it's way more jarring.
Sorry, Mr Policeman I have to go hard or the suspension doesn't work.
Click to expand...
That's actually how it should work; faster = better response. The emulator valves respond to fluid pressure. Hitting a bump fast produces rapid movement of the fork leg and a sharp increase in fluid pressure. The emulator valves responds by quickly bleeding off pressure, which allows the forks to give and the wheel to move with the road obstruction instead of simply bouncing over it. The fixed orifice holes work ok to a point, but being fixed they don't allow a measured response to sharp increases in pressure/flow, which is where the emulator comes in. At low speed/low pressure input they typically - depending on settings - don't do as much because there isn't as much fluid pressure working against them. You can spend days playing with different emulator springs and settings ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top