It there a way to make homemade seal savers?

[gawarrior]

I remember seeing somewhere that someone made some homemade seal savers out of medical gauze. Can someone explain this to me how it is done? I work at a medical clinic so I have plenty of gauze ?

thanks

[Chaindrive]

I showed my mom a set I had purchased for my kid's bike and mentioned wanting to buy some for my bike since seal leaks were a pain. She was appalled when I told her what they cost (which is comparatively cheap when considering the price of ANY useful bike part, but I did not tell her that...).

She was soon in Walmart and found some neoprene sunglass holders they were closing out for under a dollar each, just a bag to hang on your dash really, but they were large enough and were even black. She took a few measurements and did her magical cut, snip, and sew routine and within a few minutes I had a great pair of seal savers... ?

Don't use gauze (can't imagine how that would hold up in weather...) Use neoprene. Maybe find a buddy with an old wet suit to cut up..? Your girlfriend's suit might look better with a little trimming in a few select spots? Now that my mind is fully in the gutter , spandex might even work, but I suspect it would not hold its shape and fold under during fork travel.

[gawarrior]

I guess I need to look into buying some I guess. Anyone know of a good deal and place to get some?

I am going to Durhamtown next week and that place is notorious for causing fork leaks.

[WR_Dave]

I got sick of replacing seals and fixing fork leaks on my last bike so I put these fork boots on and made a guard on the disc side to keep the boots out of the brakes and spokes. 3 years and no leaks and yes I do service the forks a couple of times a summer.WR Dave. ? Sorry I can't get the pic into the post.

[JVP]

It seems like a lot of work to make a product that is relatively inexpensive to buy. ? I try to base my purchases on cost v. usefulness v. "being cool to have." "Being cool to have" often wins! But in this case they are cost effective. I have them on my bike and my son's bike. They work and based on the cost of having the forks serviced after blowing a seal they are a bargain at $20. I have heard that some guys buy the full size savers for $28 and cut them into three separate pieces to reduce cost. This seems like a good idea.

[gawarrior]

yeah, I need to just buy some. I wish one of the local shops carried them. but they don't. Guess I will just have to find someone on the internet who carries them.

any suggestions?

[JVP]

sealsavers.com ?

[gawarrior]

thanks ?

[gawarrior]

Quick question, do you have to order each for seperate or do they come as a pair? And do you suggest the short or the long?

thanks

[JVP]

Pair. Check out their web site. they have some other stuff too.

[RoosterJ]

it looks like the inventer of the seal saver was a beer drinker, he most likley had a lot of kozzies laing around and was tired of changing fork seals or paying for the service. wa la new invention.

[gawarrior]

Pair. Check out their web site. they have some other stuff too.

You suggest the long one or the conventional ones?

[JVP]

I use the short ones.

[RCannon]

I am not sure that these are worth making. Unless a person cleans them all the time, the end result is not good.

I just pulled a set off my mountainbike. I had not cleaned them for a while. The dirt and grit is all over the savers. It acts like a sheet of sandpaper on the forks. Not a good idea!

[gawarrior]

Ok good. that is the ones I ordered.