Do those here that use fork gaiters use any grease or lube on the fork stanchions so that the gaitors slide easily?

I have not used anything, and one of the gaitors (and only one) continually bunches up at the top and really stretches the bottom bit of the gaiter and I can see it eventually tearing it.

no mate ...the ones i have did suck in a little on braking ...but solved that by punching an about 5 mm hole in the rear (near the bottom )  of the gaitors ..

are you sure they arent binding on the forks ...internaly to the forks propper ?

try the hole punch fix ?

I have gaiters on both my bikes and neither uses any lubricant to maintain their shape.  Both have vents as Charlie describes.  The vent stops the gaiter from sucking itself into the stanchion resulting from the vacuum created as the fork moves up and down. Are you using the Rancho RS1952 shock boots as gaitors?  I think this product has 13 pleats and MAY tend to droop rather than bunch at the top.

Yes, have had this problem. Motobins supply two types of gaiter. The cheaper, 93920 I think, bind on the stanchions of my K75 fitted with Showa forks, cured by  piercing a hole at the top end of the bellows and lubing stanchions. The heaver type, 93900, already have a hole in the top but are free of contact with stations and work ok. Better bellows and worth the extra cost. John

k100virgin wrote:Yes, have had this problem. Motobins supply two types of gaiter. The cheaper, 93920 I think, bind on the stanchions of my K75 fitted with Showa forks, cured by  piercing a hole at the top end of the bellows and lubing stanchions. The heaver type, 93900, already have a hole in the top but are free of contact with stations and work ok. Better bellows and worth the extra cost. John

I have the 93920's.....as they are on a K1100 and its the only one that mentions the 1100 in the description.....and they do fit nicely over the fork legs at the bottom of the gaitor.

Infact I have 2 sets of these suckers! The first set was in my box of parts that temporary went walk about when I decided to put them in a 'safe place' 


Will try the hole punch method and report back

Probably what I've got also.  When I noticed no breather holes, I put some in before fitting them. Any gaiters I've run before have had the breather holes and I couldn't see why you wouldn't run them. No sucking or distortion.

For the people that keep recommending the Rancho product.  They really are a North American solution.  Not available in OZ and as a rule the UK suppliers are better value for OZ when price, postage costs and exchange rates are considered.  That's why a lot of us don't tend to use any of the US sourced bits or alternatives often suggested.  On top of that we actually find some US suppliers will actually say "does not post to Australia"

Al

Alby and I bought our Ranchero gaitors from Amazon.com. Price was right and the postage wasn't too stupid.

I'll try and track down the cost. This was a couple of years ago I think.

EDIT: I'm glad I checked!

Boots: $6.58 AU

Postage: $7.73 AU back in May 2012.