[Darren69]

Originally Posted by 350TSS

Darren: as for work of the devil, fitting gaiters may encourage indolence - generated by all that free time I will have not changing fork seals or pitted stanchions.
On what planet is it good engineering practice to expose highly polished and precision ground chromed steel components to grit /salt and water - I do like a controversy
I suspect that gaiters were lost when an accountant not an engineer decided there was more profit without them on new bikes, no first cost and lots of extra spare part sales. They became "fashionable" like that and we are where we are today.
My maxtonised forks owe be best part of a bag of sand so £9 to protect them is money well spent - if I can get them to work with the mudguard mounting.

I agree in theory they are a good idea but from my practical experience on bikes with them fitted to conventional forks they are a dirt and moisture trap. Besides which with USD forks they are ugly and for the most part I think uneccessary. You need to protect the chrome from stones etc but water and dirt will fall down away from the seals I don't think fashion or cost has much to do with it they are simply not required. Ohlins forks maybe need some more protection as they are prone to blow seals but Showas from my experience are robust enough to cope.

Ohlins stuff seems especially fragile as my rear shock is now in need of a rebuild after 2 years light use but he Sachs shock I replaced it with was still good after 15 years or more and many 000's of miles.