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Fork gaiters are used to protect the fork sliders from bugs and dirt. They extend the seal life, and prevent fork slide damage from flying rocks and debris.
The rubber accordion type are available at many dealers, and are cheap enough for what they do, but require many, many steps to install on a Goldwing 1200:
This article outlines the steps for this 3+ hour job:
https://www.webbikeworld.com/installing ... 4-bmw-k75/
It’s a lot of work requiring careful torque installation of axel, wheel, speedometer, brake calipers, triple tree, air lines, fork super brace and fender bolts. It’s quite a hassle to do for just a set of $15 parts.
Construction of removable gaiters:
From a larger piece of leatherette create two seamed 12 x 19 cm rectangles (4.75 x 7.5 in)
Perhaps start with a 15 x 22 cm piece, lop 45° pieces off each corner, and fold over four ½ inch seams. The seams can be sewn (round needle) or just super glued with dots of glue about 1 cm apart.
Both will work … there is no stress on these parts.
The final rectangle dimensions, 12 x 19 cm are quite critical for Gl1200 fork sliders (40 mm).
Now on the outside, top, fasten a 12 cm long, ¾ in wide, “fuzzy” Velcro strip, and on the bottom, inside, fasten a 12 cm long “hook” Velcro strip.
Again, both rounded needle sewing or dots of superglue will work to secure these
Fasten completed gaiters around fork sliders. Enjoy!
Clean with damp cloth as needed. Replace every 2 decades.
How they work:
Kneel down by the front wheel. Note that 12 cm is just long enough to cover the exposed sliders. It is also just short enough to be compressed in an accordion fashion, when large bumps are encountered. You will lose about 2 cm of fork travel, the same as if you used commercial rubber accordion gaiters.
The 19 cm is just the right length to go around 40 cm. fork tubes, allow for the Velcro overlap, and are loose enough to still allow accordion type compression.
Quick and Dirty:
All the leatherette in fabric stores comes with a light fabric backing.
So, just make two precisely cut 12 x 19 rectangles with no seam folds. A paper cutter makes a clean edge on these. Now fasten a 12 cm Velcro fuzzy strip on one side, top, and a 12 cm Velcro hook strip on the other side, bottom.
With no edge seams, it will probably get ragged and tattered after a couple of years, but it takes just minutes to create new ones.
SilverDave
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Image: one 26-year-old fork gaiter, completely worn out … one newly sewn gaiter.
