Sub Zero Pattern fork seals

[gripper]

Started a thread about a week ago but it seems to have vanished, anyway the general gist was that, after replacing my sons fork seals with some pattern items, they both leaked like a sieve after only about 400 miles. (The stanchions are good) Replies to my previous thread indicated that pattern seals were maybe not up to the job so I ordered some originals from David Silver. (My local Honda dealer wanted about £35 for seals dust seals and oil in a complete kit, I just wanted the seals) A work colleague asked me if the bike had been stood outside in sub-zero temperatures (it had) He said he had a pair of seals go in similar circumstances. The ones that came out looked fine under a magnifying glass but who knows. That might explain why both went at the same time. Have to get the hair drier out in future!

[Jake]

Feb 13, 2011 17:19:39 GMT -5 gripper said:

Started a thread about a week ago but it seems to have vanished..... A work colleague asked me if the bike had been stood outside in sub-zero temperatures (it had) He said he had a pair of seals go in similar circumstances. The ones that came out looked fine under a magnifying glass but who knows. That might explain why both went at the same time. Have to get the hair drier out in future!

Hi Gripper,
Your original thread is still there in the ‘Garage’
section (main board, not sub-board):

growell.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tech&action=display&thread=1529

It seems to be one of the quirks of the NTV/Revere
that fork seals sometimes don’t last long.....I had to
change mine when I first got the bike. It's possible
the combination of age and really cold weather can
cause seals to fail.....

All I can tell you, is that apart from obvious causes like
pitted stanchions, I hate suspension that dives too much
under braking.

When I first bought my bike, I ran it to over 100mph on the
motorway and I felt it was a bit twitchy...So my preference
is for 15w fork oil and I’ve also fitted Hagon progressive fork springs.
I fiitted a Telefix fork brace because they were fairly
cheap at the time, and I’d heard that the single disc can
sometimes warp and I thought that fitting a brace
might help prevent this by stopping the forks from
‘wracking’ too much at speed.....

It’s possible that fitting the brace has also helped with the life
of the oil seals, because I’ve not had to change them since.

But if this is true, it's an expensive solution....