Old Fork Rubber Boots

F27

I have a bike with some old Manitou forks (circa 2002) which have rubber boots on around the base of the sanctions. Pretty much every fork after that era no longer used those boots so is it OK to remove them and still be OK for dirt and dust? because basically they look naff.

nicklouse

well they were there as the seals back then were crap and needed a bit of help.

F27

I see, is there anything I can put there then which looks less silly like slim rubber washers / o-rings? or just go bare because it would be a pain to dismantle. As its a spring fork are they more or less susceptible to internal dirt damage than an air one?

nicklouse

it is a Manitou. I am surprised it is still working TBH.

F27

I think Manitou are a good brand, never serviced them and they have worked fine for nearly a decade.

Anyone else have any ideas of what I can do, go without the boots or fit like an aftermarket seal wiper to them?

Anonymous

After a decade, the bushes on ANY fork will be completely and utterly buggered.
If you consider them to be working "fine", well, that's a judgement call not many would agree with you on I reckon.

F27

Well they have had very light use and feel the same as when they were new, not even a scuff or scratch on them.

Anyway I just checked and it had wiper seals under the boot anyway so I'm just going to cut the boots off.

ThePriory1978

nicklouse wrote:

well they were there as the seals back then were crap and needed a bit of help.

F27 wrote:

Anyway I just checked and it had wiper seals under the boot anyway so I'm just going to cut the boots off.

The folks are here to offer good advice. If you ignore the advice and remove the boots from your perfectly working decade old forks they will cease to work so perfectly. Simple.

nicklouse

F27 wrote:

Well they have had very light use and feel the same as when they were new, not even a scuff or scratch on them.

Anyway I just checked and it had wiper seals under the boot anyway so I'm just going to cut the boots off.

amazing the "boots" did their job.

Anonymous

How "very light" are we talking here?

tsenior

i replaced the seals on some old marzochi forks, as used new seals i figured that the boots were now superfluous so dident replace them

nicklouse

tsenior wrote:

i replaced the seals on some old marzochi forks, as used new seals i figured that the boots were now superfluous so dident replace them

must have been some really old ones. at least pre 99.

tsenior

yer they were off a '99 gt avalanch. think i may have wasted my time anyway as the steerer tube wall looks thinner on one side, seems there was some play in the headset between cup and frame

unixnerd

When I bought my '97 Mount Vision a few years ago it had Manitou forks with the rubber boots. They fit very well and as a result when I stripped the forks down for a service they were really clean inside. I think they're a great idea.

I did replace the forks, but that was because the elastomers were ancient and well past it.