Added fork gaiters to the F800GT, I’ve put these on most of the bikes I’ve owned. I accept they look a little out of place on a modern bike but I think they go some way to protecting the stanchions from damage, to be honest I’d wish I’d done this some time ago as the chrome in places is started to tarnish. I’m not a high mileage rider these days but unfortunately I can’t pick and choose the days I do ride, last year saw me doing a 90-mile commute in December after getting home from work after a long day like that does not see me washing all the road muck and salt off the bike and my GT is showing it’s age in places despite a modest mileage.
Measured up the forks and found some kits being offered for Harley Davidson offer the best fit for the F800GT.
Not as straight forward as doing this on an old air cooled boxer. There is very little space between the fork brace and the slider with a gap too small to fit gaiter and clamp. I bought some flanged bolts that were 5mm longer than the originals and made some spacers to raise the fork brace so I could get the gaiter and clamp on. The original fork brace bolts have an external torx head, I simply could not find these in the 30mm length I needed so used conventional hex head, I had to turn down the flange on the new bolts to sit in a counter bore that’s machined into the fork brace.
Removed the forks as described in the manual, you don’t have to remove the bodywork but I did as I wanted to give the bike a clean up and check for general condition/corrosion around the header pipes and radiator area and give it a coat of ACF 50
Everything went back without issue. And whilst this may or may not help slow down the inevitable corrosion on the GT I won’t actually be able to see the fork stanchions getting rusty.
Very little clearance between fork brace and slider:-
![Image]()
Replacement bolt compared to the original, flange needed to be turned down to sit in the fork brace counter bore:-
![Image]()
Added clearance with spacer and longer bolt:-
![Image]()
Gaiters fitted:-
![Image]()
Measured up the forks and found some kits being offered for Harley Davidson offer the best fit for the F800GT.
Not as straight forward as doing this on an old air cooled boxer. There is very little space between the fork brace and the slider with a gap too small to fit gaiter and clamp. I bought some flanged bolts that were 5mm longer than the originals and made some spacers to raise the fork brace so I could get the gaiter and clamp on. The original fork brace bolts have an external torx head, I simply could not find these in the 30mm length I needed so used conventional hex head, I had to turn down the flange on the new bolts to sit in a counter bore that’s machined into the fork brace.
Removed the forks as described in the manual, you don’t have to remove the bodywork but I did as I wanted to give the bike a clean up and check for general condition/corrosion around the header pipes and radiator area and give it a coat of ACF 50
Everything went back without issue. And whilst this may or may not help slow down the inevitable corrosion on the GT I won’t actually be able to see the fork stanchions getting rusty.
Very little clearance between fork brace and slider:-
Replacement bolt compared to the original, flange needed to be turned down to sit in the fork brace counter bore:-
Added clearance with spacer and longer bolt:-
Gaiters fitted:-
