Folded Leather Motorcycle Fork Gaiters

[AusSimon]

Hey All,

Anyone got any clue as to how in the world they have done this?

https://www.baakmotocyclettes.com/en/home/161-leather-fork-gaiters-motorcycle.html

And possibly more importantly if its possible for me to do by hand.

Thanks in advance for your help. 

Cheers,

Simon

[fredk]

There is an odd dotty like diagonal line running thru the bellows, but its neither consistent nor continuous. There seems to be a seam running down the length, but no stitching. I'm thinking its thin leather wet moulded over a shaped buck and the edges have been over-lapped and glued together

[mikesc]

Formed over a wooden mold "buck" ( the site says so, and that is exactly what it looks like ) turned on a lathe..the leather was held down during the forming with "zip ties"..you can see the striated lines of the "zip ties" in each "valley"..seams will be out of sight ..around the back, could be sewn, or glued, or even open at the back..Given that they are sold with multiple steel straps to hold them in place, I'd say that they probably are "open at the back" ( by which I mean a simple "butt join" or slight overlap join, with no sewing or glueing ).. Very nice idea, nice work on that site, very creative, congrats to the owner / creator ..Mr Rémi REGUIN ..love the address ..I'm thinking that they have probably patented the process ( even if it doesn't say so anywhere that I saw on a quick glance ) and being French , they probably did so for Canada too ..strong links between France and Québec..Given that they would weigh very little, you would probably pay no more than €10.00 to €15.00 or so per pair for shipping ( with signature ) via Colissimo..the price at €199.00 seems to me to be very reasonable for such an item..You'd want to keep them well "neatsfooted", or they'd not last long in cold dry air..Don't copy them, ( wrong ) unless you are going to add something that makes yours really different , and even then , if you make a pair of "inspired by", then only for you, don't get trying to sell them ( very very wrong ..see this thread, begin at the top )

Thinking about it, the idea is probably very old ( just here applied to motorcycle forks ) I'm pretty sure that I have something similar in leather ( which I think is seal skin, or at least greased with seal grease,* but deteriorated somewhat ) on a piston slide part of the hand cranked water pump on our well..which I need to repair.

*This area / village / town, used to be the centre of Brittany's Icelandic cod fishing fleet, lot of sealskin products too historically..

Edited August 31, 2019 by mikesc

[fredk]

6 hours ago, mikesc said:

Thinking about it, the idea is probably very old ( just here applied to motorcycle forks ) I'm pretty sure that I have something similar in leather ( which I think is seal skin, or at least greased with seal grease,* but deteriorated somewhat ) on a piston slide part of the hand cranked water pump on our well..which I need to repair..

The idea is as old or older as the Industrial Age

Leather bellows for sliding automotive parts are not unusual. I can still get OEM leather bellows for putting over part of the drive shaft of my 1930 Austin 7. A friend has leather bellows on various parts of his 1904 Lagonda Tri-cycle  / Tricar

[mikesc]

Edited ..posted before 1st coffee , saw that you said that you can still get them OEM for your cars.

Edited August 31, 2019 by mikesc

[AusSimon]

Oh my! Thank you everyone so much for your in depth and thoughtful responses. 

That is such an intelligent way to go about it, and I cant believe i didn't read that part about how they do it! 

@mikesc I would never duplicate their product for resale. I only wanted to make one set for myself as they don't have the colour I need to match the rest of my bike.

I dont think ill be learning to lathe any time soon, so I guess ill just have to live without them for now. Maybe, just maybe I could fill a standard rubber fork gaiter with plaster and cut the rubber from around it to give me a mold.

Thanks all again, I really appreciate your help.

Cheers,

Simon

 

 

[mikesc]

Plaster wouldn't hold up to either the wet molding of the leather, or the zip tie compression..it would shatter, even if you put a "charge" in it like chopped glass fibre.You could mold glass fibre ( polyester ) over a plaster mold and then mold leather over that., but the diameters would wrong at the final stage, unless you did an awful lot of very accurate sanding of the plaster before coating it with polyester..

[fredk]

You may well be right about the plaster Mike. Regular Plaster of Paris is far too weak and soft

I use a modelling plaster called Keramin. Its a special plaster with a high level of ceramic powder in it. I've used it for making bucks to mould leather over. But it still might not do the job. But. . .  hows about using cement, regular house bricky sticking ceeement for the inside of the bellows gaiter? I've used cement to make bucks for moulding leather over as well as for moulding fibreglass over

[mikesc]

Yep, Should work..could also add chopped fibre glass ( polyester strands ).. a plaster and cement mix with chopped strand works for molding garden statues and so on.Would need to grease ( cooking oil will do smeared around the insides of the rubber gaiters ) to make sure it released clean.in the USA you can even get something similar ( which the name of eludes me for the moment ) ready mixed in a bag.

[fredk]

The donor bellows gaiter would need to be well supported on the outside to make it hold its shape. 

I'm thinking, a bucket of sand. The gaiter plugged at one end and set upright on a layer of sand in a bucket. Loosely pack sand around a section of the gaiter, pour in cement, pack sand tighter, let that section harden, repeat to the top. I'd have several 6mm steel/iron rods running up the centre as well

eeee, this be fun

 

[mikesc]

At least half the fun of anything, is working out the "how to do it"

Agree with you on the steel rods..To make the initial mold..you could pack the rubber gaiter with sand, ( without distorting it )and pour plaster cement mix around it ..Then pour the sand away when the outer "mother mold" had set, leaving the rubber gaiter in place for making the male mold with the steel rods incorporated, That way you can "pour" the cement/plaster/chopped poly  core of the male mold all in one go.

Edited August 31, 2019 by mikesc
typo

[fredk]

That sounds like a plan indeedy

 

I've thought of another way; find a friendly hobbyist wood turner. Bribe with copious bottles of brew/wine/chocolates and ask him/her to turn it up copying a donor gaiter

[AusSimon]

haha you guys are killing me

I was actually thinking cement with an iron rod through the middle too. I have some left over cement lying around from an old opt making project that would be perfect.

I think ill take a dive and star googling wet molding...