This morning checking my bike before heading out noticed about a dimes worth of oil under the left fork leg. bike only has 8000 miles on it but is a 2002 . When I bought it a year ago it only had 1800 miles on it , but the PO only put 400 miles on it in the 5 years he owned it. Could it be they just got brittle ? any suggestions ? Any after market seals made to replace the 10 year old seals of better quality ? Thanks
Not really a seal at the bottom of the fork. It is a bolt and a copper crush washer. If it is leaking from up at the top of the lower tube around the wiper, then its a "seal". Only use real OEM seals. They aren't much if anything more than the shitty aftermarket ones that cause many people issues. You can remove the front wheel and axle to get to the plug in the lower to make sure it is tight. I think it is a 7mm Allen. Make sure you use metric that fits or you will bugger up the bolt and then you are in trouble.
It would be odd for the crush washers both to leak spontaneously without the fork having been taken apart and put together. Like Bitterpil said, check the seals and back of both fork legs for oil residue. If dry, make sure you check the brake lines. There may be a leak there. Depending on what the fluid looked like, may not be oil but hydrolic fluid.
Have you had any 100+ degree temperatures lately? The pressure in the fork tube increases as the temperature goes up, the seal expands as temperature goes up, the fluid is incompressible and has to go somewhere--hence a little squirt past the little gap in the seal. i have a VT700 sitting outside where it's been 106 in the shade doing the same thing, so just saying it could be a thermalization issue and maybe a little too much oil in the fork...But yes the seals can dry out over time and with lack of use too, and weep a little when it does get used.
