PRODUCT REVIEW: Dirt Skins Fork Protectors

All Rights Reserved © 2007 Thomas W. Day

Dirt Skins installed on my Suzuki DL-650 V-Strom.

Adventure touring is tough on motorcycle parts; chains and sprockets, wheels, and suspension parts wear quickly when exposed to dirt, grit, and clay. One of the most exposed pieces of your suspension are the fork seals. The usual way to protect the seals are expandable rubber fork boots. But installing fork boots requires removing the forks and supporting the motorcycle without the assistance of the front wheel. Many motorcyclists don't have the equipment to prop up the front end of a large touring bike.

The first time I tried a pair of Dirt Skins was way back in 1993, on my Yamaha TDM 850. They were a gift from a friend who decided he wanted to go the more traditional route with expandable rubber fork boots and sort of tossed the Dirt Skins my way as an afterthought. Initially, I couldn't get them to stay on the forks, so I tossed them into a corner of my garage and told my friend that I wouldn't be using them. A couple of days later, I tried to install them, again, and figured out the precise tension balance between the inner fork tubes and the outer fork tubes. It's a little bit of a trick, but when you get it right the Dirt Skins stay in place for thousands of miles, hassle-free.

A few weeks later, my friend called to say that he decided fork boots were too much trouble to install and wanted to know if he could have the Dirt Skins back. "No way," I replied, unsympathetically. "I've been using them and they're all dirty. You wouldn't want them now, anyway." He went away without a lot of complaint and I haven't heard from him for about 15 years. I'm pretty sure we're still friends, though.

After surviving for ten years and more than 60,000 miles on my Yamaha TDMs, I moved the Dirt Skins to my new 650 V-Strom before a trip to Alaska. They made it to AK and back, but were pretty worn out looking at the end of that trip. So I ripped them off and replaced them with a new pair. A more artistically inclined guy would have been tempted by the three flashy colors available, but I have a black motorcycle and black fork covers go nicely with that. In fact, they are mostly invisible under the fairing and behind the front fender shield.

Dirt Skins are a sheet of neoprene foam with hook-and-eye fasteners along one edge. For extra security, the manufacturer includes a pair of zipties to secure the Skins to the lower fork tube. If you get the tension right, the upper section slides freely while the lower section is stationary. Dirt Skins seal out most of the dust, mud, and road junk that would ruin your fork seals and provide some protection from flying objects (rocks, sand, etc.), extending the life of your forks and seals considerably. The 850 TDM was fairly well known for going through fork seals quickly, but my bikes never leaked a drop. When I got back home, every inch of my V-Strom was coated in Alaska and British Columbia clay, but when I pulled off my old Dirt Skins the forks were absolutely clean underneath.

The big advantage of Dirt Skins is that they are easy to install (and don't require front end disassembly or the removal of the forks from the triple-clamp). Another advantage is that they remove and reinstall easily for fork servicing and inspection. I've used both styles of fork protection and while I think the expandable boots provide better protection for serious off-road bikes, the Dirt Skins are good protection for a moderate-travel adventure touring street bike.

You can find them at www.dirtskins.com or call at 877-440-6458. They come in three lengths (short, medium, and long) and four colors (black, purple, red, and lime green).

Product Review: Elka Street Motorcycle Series Shock Absorber

[NOTE: I'm disappointed that the MMM editors took so long to find a place for this review. I understand it, but I think this is exactly the kind of product that gets a short shift from magazines because suspension parts aren't noisy, flashy, or the kind of thing that newbie riders or vintage collectors care about. From my experience, it's hard to describe the value of a giant change in a stock bike's suspension can add to an otherwise competent motorcycle.]



(courtesy of Elka Suspension)

All Rights Reserved © 2009 Thomas W. Day

The V-Strom clan from Stromtrouper.com got together in late 2008 to make a group buy on rear shocks from Elka. I almost passed on the opportunity because I wasn't convinced that my V-Strom needed any suspension help; especially the kind of help that costs $1100. In the end, thinking about the 9,000 mile trip I'd be making that summer to Nova Scotia and back, I decided to gamble on a major suspension improvement. I bought a two-way remote reservoir damping system with the remote hydraulic preload adjustment. There are a variety of options available and I'd suggest you call Elka's customer support line (1-800-557-0552) for advice for your bike and riding conditions. John Ilkiw was incredibly helpful to me and the shock I received required next-to-no setup after installation. These are custom shocks, designed and setup for your bike, your weight, and your riding style. If you give Elka enough information, the shock will come practically ready to ride.

When the shock arrived, I was impressed by the bright and shiny red, black, gold, and stainless-lined made-in-Canada Elka parts. Jacking up my bike's rear end and pulling the OEM shock provided my next impressed moment; but it wasn't a good impression. The stock shock seemed under-built and cheap in comparison to the Elka. I struggled in sorting out Elka's installation instructions, since the manual that came with my shock was missing the V-Strom information, but it all went together in a short Saturday afternoon.

After messing with the preload a little, I took the shock out for a test ride. Within a few yards of home, I was already convinced the bike felt more "planted" than it had with the OEM part. Accelerating through the 10mph curve that outlines my front yard, I found the back tire felt unnaturally stuck to the asphalt. Fifty miles later, I was convinced that I'd lost some pressure in my rear tire during the shock installation because my dual purpose tires simply seemed too solidly connected to the road to be inflated at their usual 42psi. The ride was a little too smooth and the front wheel tracked a little too predictably. I checked, the tires were at their normal pressure. The only thing that had changed was the rear shock.

I rode out to the trails of Carlos Avery Game Reserve to give the shock a real test. In the past, I've had to set the forks at the softest position to keep from pounding my wrists into dust on those trails, but I actually ended up adding some preload to the forks this time. The stutter-bumps that cars and trucks have ground into the trails were literally non-existent from my riding position. If the road got a little rough, I just shifted more weight to the rear tire and cranked up a little more throttle. Skating the deep sand was less terrifying, too. I could steer the V-Strom through sand, using the throttle and peg weighting, almost like a real dirt bike.

The real test would come in 2008 when I loaded up the bike and headed north into Canada later that summer. By then, I was used to the Elka's ride improvement but it wasn't that long ago that I made the trip around the North Shore to Ontario. My last trip was a real bun beater, but in 2008 I had the added benefit of a hail storm at the boarder crossing and intense rain for the next 150 miles east. Not only did the V-Strom's new suspension soak up the winter-crusted Canadian Highway 17, but my new stability really became apparent in the rain and high winds.

For the next 9,000 miles, the bike was so comfortable and predictable that I forgot all about the changes the Elka shock had made in my ride, until I met another V-Strom rider in New Brunswick. His bike was tricked out with all sorts of Touratech adventure touring farkles, some of which I was thinking of adding to my bike. We were both riding on dual purpose tires. The bikes were loaded close to equally. We swapped rides for a few miles and I got a quick reminder of the stock suspension. He'd put a cartridge fork emulator on his bike, but it didn't make much difference as far as I could tell. He, on the other hand, thought my bike was a lot nicer ride than his own. We were on some fairly rough 2-lane and gravel farm roads, traveling at a quick pace, and it was a good test of suspension parts. The Elka shock really made an impression. In 2009, I took the V-Strom into North Dakota and covered almost 1,000 miles of dirt roads during my 2,500 mile tour of that state. Deep sand, rutted gravel, and wet clay was so much easier to handle than it was two years earlier that I can only credit the Elka shock for the transformation of my bike and my riding capabilities.

Last spring, I test rode Kawasaki's Versys and my only negative comment about the bike was that the rear shock seemed unresponsive and transmitted a lot more shock than I was used to receiving. I suspect Elka could resolve that complaint. An ex-pro-racer friend commented that suspension parts are the least noticeable bits for manufacturers to cheap out and the most noticeable improvements you can make on a production bike. My experience with the Elka Street Motorcycle Series Shock Absorber proves him right. I'm buying one for the new WR250X. Enough said.