Fork seals - how long should they last

[rjp996 1,091]

Noticed one of my fork seals has started to weep a little, and just wondering how long they should last in use. 

Only one leaking, and the bike is on its third at 71k miles. 

The one that's leaking now I replaced around this time last year and about 23k miles ago I would think, and the year before that at similar miles. 

So the original factory seals lasted about Two years but now I've gone through one every year these past two. Forks and chrome all look good no pitting. Is this about the norm for how long they should last 

 

On a slightly different track and to a point on chain maintenance thread a couple of months back ( to maintain or not), I've been seeing with my current chain how it held up to very little oil maintenance, given the design of the X ring and the contained grease. Well the chain lasted about the 20k miles as it was changed almost 1 year ago. In that time I probably cleaned it twice and oiled it probably about 4 times. I maintained the tension correctly of course over that time. My bike is used daily and is a work horse to commute on, but I do maintain the bike well otherwise (oil, filters, strip and cleaning callipers, coolest and brake fuid changes etc so I'm no mechanical heethen) and the chain experiment was one that I was willing to take given it's no show bike, and given how chains are designed (and the general far given it's used daily of cleaning them), I just wanted to see. In no way am I recommending not to clean or oil your chain, just sharing my own little experiment. 

[embee 7,288]

Aftermarket seals of any description are a complete lottery, they may be designed and manufactured appropriately using good quality materials and the correct sealing geometry and pressures …………………… or they may not. Fork seals I would always use genuine items or at the very least from a reputable manufacturer (not just a known retailer). If they don't have a manufacturer identified on the seal/packaging it indicates no-one is prepared to own up to making them.

 

Maybe it would be worth considering fork gaiters in your circumstances. Again, avoid the cheap eblag generic stuff, I've been there and they last a few months before splitting. Triumph do gaiters that fit, not sure if they are long enough for the NCX but work on the S and Integra.

The Triumph fork deflector kits are still available at sensible pricing. They went through an odd period where they were stupidly cheap (£5 for a complete set of protectors and fixings, I have them on mine), but then prices suddenly leapt to silly amounts, but they seem to be back in the realms of reality, a bit over £10 or so I think. 

[RC166 701]

Before you replace seal have ago at cleaning them as no strip down is required as it only takes a few minutes and it has worked for me.

Just search ‘fork seal cleaner’

You can buy one, but I made mine from a piece of plastic lemonade bottle.

Gotta be worth a try, it’s amazing how much much you can pull out. Do it a few times and keep pumping the forks afterwards to settle seals in nicely.

[Eddie17 546]

I had  a problem with fork seal around 3,200mls . Bit miffed that it happened but think was down to the one time in January I  took the bike out for long run and put it back in bike shed.Although cleaned the bike I think a bit of salt stuck to fork and because  took the bike out again a two months later  ( it bounces downs a ramp)it caused damage to seal .Think I will look at fork deflector kit, as suggested above, before winter .

And ensure forks clean after use in winter