I was pulling bugs and some feathers out of my radiator last night and noticed that my left fork tube looked wet, with some black streaks on it. Looked closer and found a nasty deposit of crud on the tube at the upper limits of travel. Wiped it off and rode around a bit and looked again. Sure enough, signs of lube. Leaky fork seal. Looked very close and found a small ding, probably from a rock just under the edge of the dust seal, with a ragged edge. Nothing you would notice unless you looked very close and felt it.
The ding is now buffed out, but I still have to face the horror of changing a fork seal. I HATE those friggin things. The shop has a decent rate for them, but they are on a two week backlog, same as all the alternate shops I checked. Before I can do that though, I have to install new brakes on my car tomorrow. I’ve put off that job because I just don’t use the car in the summer.
Anyway, just a reminder to all the riders out there, especially you guys with fairings. Take a good look at your often overlooked tubes, and give them a good feel for dings. Try and catch any dings before they score your seals. Take it from me, you might not notice them during a general look over or a wash job, but it only takes one tiny little rock impact to give you a real pain in the ass job just to change a $10 part.