Mountain Biking - Rubber shock covers?

do those rubber shock covers that go over the fork do anything really?


i dont care for how they look.. i think they're kina cheesy and i much prefer the simpler look of just the strut itself showing... but will that cause dirt to get ont he strut and cause problems? or can i just take it off?

Originally posted by JasBike
do those rubber shock covers that go over the fork do anything really?

The short answer is yes - they keep dirt out. Most newer forks; however, do not come with full sized boots as they apparently are not cool anymore.

as they apparently are not cool anymore

To add to what bac said, new forks also have better seals so they do not need the boots to help keep the dirt out.

If you fork came with the boots I would say keep using them.

If you realy can not stand having them on you could take them off but it would require you to do more maintenance and replace the seals more often.

:beer: :beer:

I am pretty sure this question has been asked every other day for the last month.

In addition to what bac and dirbikedude said,if you take the boots off,you might want to oil them. It makes the fork go down alot easier,but you should put a seal on it almost right after you put the oil in it.(Just oil the stanchions,not the inside), and wait for the oil to get into the top of the internals.

Originally posted by KleinMp99
I am pretty sure this question has been asked every other day for the last month.


watch me care!




and to the guys that helped---


thanks. i figure i'll just keep them on. they dont look so bad, and i tend to get my bike very dirty so i figure they're best off on.


thanks again