so what is the deal/purpose of the fork boots? i never liked the looks of them myself and what i read in a post in the dualsport forum finally broke the camels back and i'm pretty bent on getting rid of them :eek: so what's anyone's thoughts on this? do they really serve that big of a purpose? i mean if i take them off there can't be that much dirt/dust that could get in right?

i took them off my 350 because they were pretty ugly......had become dirt embedded and wouldn't clean up. i was suprised at how clean things were underneath where they were clamped. they are pretty silly looking.

LMAO, ok i just read my title and had to laugh... but anyway you guys know what i mean :D

i'm going to take mine off this evening or tommorrow. i never liked them and was going to ditch them a long time ago but then i forgot, lol, until i read that post in the dualsport forum:eek:

they are there for the purpose of deflecting any debris from nicking a fork tube. Once they get nicked, they cut the fork seals and require replacement of the seals, and the repair of the tube and possibly replacement if bad enough. I had this happen on my old 350 and they used some kind of sanding stone to take the edge off of the ding in the tube. Also had to get a new seal in that side. If you're in a rocky area, it's not a bad idea to keep them on. Summers racing has a motorcross style that uses sliders. I had these on my 350 along with the summers fork brace, they're kind of cheap because you zip tie the sliders on at the bottom clamp.

yeah that's true, plus they look like a pain to take off in one piece. what to do, what to do :excuseme:

just have to drop the forks out and they will slip right off.

I don't like mine cause they've not kept the accordion-like shape very well. I'm always trying to pop the things in or out. Frustrating!

That being said, I would hesitate before removing them entirely, especially if I did more off-road than I do.

I vote keep the boots. They protect the forks and the seals. You will find that on dirt only bikes, they have shields to protect the slide portion from dings and some riders supplement this with stretch neoprene (like football arm pads) to keep the dirt out. Why sacrifice function for looks.
My nickels worth.

yeah i've decided to keep them. i think i can live with the looks of em lol. thanks anyway guys.

I like the way the black ones look. Mine's an older model that came with the yellow ones and it makes it look old.

I took mine off and put on the Summers (SRC) fork guard kit. It's a universal mount, so the photos on their website make it look cool ,but then when you get it and try to put it on your DR, you find out how jangy it really is. Like zip-tie jangy. No kidding, that's the actual mounting method. You will also need to dremel the bottom of the guard on the rotor side, as it will grind off under hard braking, leaving you wondering what the heck that sound is for a week or so until you figure it out (at least it took ME a week...) Anyway, when all is said and done, I still find them satisfactory, and better looking than the boots. I'll post pics as soon as I can get my lazy butt out to the garage.

You can get some neoprene booties that do the same thing. They keep the dirt out of the seals. I just keep the old ones. Its a dirt bike ain't supposed to be pretty. It is supposed to be covered in mud and dirt. You can get boots in just about any color you want.

Perry

oh but perry mud and dirt IS pretty :D