Hello everyone.
Today I'm writing about fitting fork boots to the front forks of an F650GS (the single).
Perhaps to cut costs, some bikes with conventional (non-USD) forks don't have fork boots.
The F650GS and G650GS don't have fork boots either.
If the fork inner tubes are exposed, dirt and rainwater can cause rust, and the rust damages the fork seals.
Damaged fork seals leak fork oil, and if that oil gets onto the brake parts...
it doesn't bear thinking about.
So (and partly for the looks) I decided to fit fork boots.
Fork boots are rubber bellows, so they're fairly universal: as long as the inner and outer tube diameters and the length match, fitting them isn't difficult.
I measured the fork diameters this time, so I hope the numbers help someone.
Back to the story.
I happened to get hold of fork boots from a Dakar, so I decided to fit them.
These are the front forks and boots.
These are F650GS forks, which I got with the idea of fitting them to my G650GS one day.
Why fit F650GS forks to a G650GS?
The G650GS front forks are made by Sachs, and their fork seals and slide bushes are unusual sizes.
The F650GS forks, on the other hand, are by Showa (I think), so fork seals and slide bushes are easy to get.
That's why I had the idea of fitting F650GS forks to my G650GS.
First, I measure the inner tube diameter.
41 mm.
The outer tube diameter was 60 mm.
I clean the parts that I won't be able to reach once the fork boots are on, using Plexus.
Now to fit the fork boots!
That said, they just slide on, but you need to watch which way round they go.
Because fork boots expand and contract, they have a hole to let air out.
I think it's better to point that hole towards the back of the bike so that rain doesn't get in.
Next, I fit the band that holds the fork boot to the inner tube.
I think bands from any bike with 41 mm inner tubes would fit.
Here I used ones from a Honda XR BAJA / XR250.
I plan to secure the bottom of the fork boot with a cable tie.
That's the job done.
I've also written a guide to servicing XR250 / BAJA front forks, from strip-down to oil, springs and re-chroming (in Japanese).