This is my first street bike and after buying it I had it looked over at a bike shop and they said I need new fork seals. The guy working there was VERY difficult to communicate with and just ignored a lot of my questions. Ignored as in remained silent and just kept doing whatever he was doing whenever I asked. He said I need new fork seals and ordered them but my handling seems totally fine and my brakes seem fine. The only time I had issues braking was when I got caught out in a BAD rainstorm. I could barely see where I was going and I had to pull my brake in a little farther than normal and it may have even skidded a little at some of the stops. This was only a 15 minute ride from the gym to my house though so I just went slow and tried to survive.

So, is this guy trying to rip me off? He says they're leaking but he didn't/wouldn't even really show me what he was talking about and I don't see a leak, although I don't really know what one looks like. I've been riding close to a month since I stopped by there and my parts are waiting in the store with $200 for parts and labor. Not sure what to do. Thanks!

 

If you need new seals you'd know about it, depending on how bad the leak is you would see it being blown up the chrome part of the fork / forks. It will have a ripple effect (the leaking oil that is) and would be visible from the dust covers up. Also most times if you have a leak the oil will often run down the fork once the bike has been parked up after a good ride.

If you do happen to get the seals replaced make sure you have the upper and lower bushes done also as often the Teflon coating wears off, only cost about $30.00 NZ, so cheap as chips and worth getting done while forks are stripped down.

If I was you I'd just keep a close eye on the forks for any leaks.

Ps re brakes the only fork seals would effect your brakes, best to my knowledge is if the oil has soaked into the brake pads then you'd have issues stopping but not big issues.

Hope that helps mate and good luck

 

Do you see them leaking? When they leak, you could see a little oil residue on the tubes or even a full blown leak all over everywhere on the wheel.

Its good maintenance to change them and the fluid every few years anyway.

 

Sounds like you're not sure where the fork seals are?

If you look in the picture of my bike, they are where the chrome fork tubes slide into the black (on my bike), fork lowers. If your seals are leaking, there will be fork oil in this area, on the chrome tube and possibly running down the fork lowers. If they are leaking, check for corrosion or pitting of the chrome tubes. If there is corrosion, they will need to be replaced as well. Feel for oil and pitting with your hand.

As far as your mechanic goes, I would find another one. You want somebody who will at least treat you with respect and common courtesy!

 

Fork seals do not have to be leaking to need replacement, look closely for cracks on the outside of fork seals; if they re cracked and not leaking, once the weather warms up they are sure to crack after a few rides.

Another test to try is to hold the front brake and rock the bike back and forth, if clunking can be felt near fork legs, (not the steering stem area) those fork seals are likely need replacement. A bit difficult to tell the difference between origins of clunking noise when you perform this test, best to have someone else do the rocking of the bike for you and
yourself try to determine the source of noise, then switch to compare results.

There are more seals on the forks than the ones you see between inner and outer forklegs, internal fork seal condition are usually determined by riding the bike over certain bumps on road surface. Rebound and damping performance significant'y differs when internal seals are worn.

If you do a lot of wheelies.. likely not just the fork seals that need replacement.

 

Regardless of if the bike needs em, I'd go somewhere else. No need to pay jerks when there are lots of nice mechanics out there.