Fork Gaurds

[Cberg]

I see a lot of pictures of people's snow bikes without the fork guards on. I'm curious as to why people take them off? I for one would not ever ride without mine on, riding through the tight trees, always rubbing trees, forks hitting braches, some branches probably get snapped off by the forks, to me they are important like hand guards . My fork guards have a bunch of scuff marks so the forks are brushing against stuff. I would rather spend $30 - $40 on a set of fork guards then risk gouging a lower fork tube. Just wandering is all.

 

[Draxxus]

Trees can not damage the chrome , if something hits your forks hard enough to do damage little plastic guards wouldn't have saved it . Also the snow builds up behind the guard and then when your forks compress it pushes the guards out or right off. Some bikes you can't get the inside bolt on due to the spindle so that amplifies the floppy factor. I ran them for a couple rides and gave up.


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[kinneyt]

I cant get the inside bolt on mine. what are you doing to keep them in place?

 

[Motogeek33]

I had to trim both fork guards a bit to get them mounted -- and one side only has two of the three mounting holes, so it's a little more floppy. I've been out once and so far so good. But we'll see how they hold up. I tend to agree with your concern, tho... I don't want my fork tubes exposed to impacts. Trees and branches probably wouldn't do any damage, but I could easily scrape a fork tube on a rock or something more substantial.

 

[Rush44]

The KTM fork guards are much more substantial than previous bikes I had (WR450 and KX450) and I'm thinking about cutting them and putting them back on. However, with previous fork guards they would not go all the way up to the upper section of the tube and protect the full stroke... they just went about halfway up the lower section of the fork itself. Smack a tree and sometimes the plastic mount on the guard will break and push the guard flush with the lower fork... all it takes is one stroke and bye bye fork seals. I've seen this happen twice with fork oil dripping all over the place.

So far, 3 seasons without fork guards and all is ok.

 

[Draxxus]

I agree it is possible to smack the chrome on rock but super unlikely and yea I figured the full enclosure of the ktm guards might make them still usable , I think you have to cut off the inside bolt point tho to get them on ...


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[Cberg]

I did trim the inside bolt holes on my Ktm guards. On my second season and guards have been working fine.