Riding with a bad fork seal?

[Road King Cole]

A buddy of mine road his FXR all season with a leaking front seal. Got on his front brake rotor and left marks where he parked. No big deal to him. He isn't known for smart decisions when it comes to maintenance on all his vehicles. I call his bike the valdez.

Myself, I would have gone on your run but would get this fixed soon.

rkc

[thebreez]

Thanks for all the help, it was not as messy as Thundermug some oil on the tank.
I would love to have them do the job but have been out of work and need to DIY.
The forks had Progressive springs installed long ago, time for syn. fork oil, are their rebuild kits?
Anyone know of a step by step guide on the web? Thanks

[mad_scientist]

This is a decent and pretty straightforward guide: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho...ce_fork_seals/

You don't need a rebuild kit, just the inner seals and new fork oil. The outer dust covers can be reused as long as they're not cracked.

[mad_scientist]

Also- now would be a good time to look into different fork oil weights depending on how happy you've been with your front end dampening

[Thundermug]

Here is mine with it messy. Mine was gouged by some rust...Yeah, I live at the beach and don't have a garage...
I was riding with friends and I was in the back. We stopped for a quick break, and I told the other guys...Dude, someones got an oil leak, once in a while I can smell it. Everyone checked their bikes and they all said it wasn't them. As I was getting on my bike I saw oil everywhere.

[thebreez]

The chrome caps hide old nasty stuff.

Something must have run down the fork tube years ago eat up the dust cover.

[Rollmeaway]

My guess would be moisture as in water as in downpour over a period of time.