After my last post on the fork brace I emailed Eagle on my concerns over dirt entering the fork boot. A couple of hours later I received a reply from Eagle Mike and I am posting it here for everyone:
Lorenzo,
The holes are actually supposed to be open. On the pre-2008 they are open from the factory. The intent is to allow air to enter and leave as the fork compresses and extends. The application on the 2008 and later is a design flaw. Normal maintenance even with the boots is to push them up from time to time and use a small brush to LIGHTLY brush away the dirt. Every six months or so I suggest removing the outer clamp and doing this with the fork brace. Some people only do it as part of the annual maintenance. This depends on how much dirt riding is done. If proper maintenance is done there isn't any increased wear on the fork seals. On the other hand, I've seen seals go away in less than a year on a stock bike ridden a lot in the dirt with no maintenance done in this area. I hope this helps... (also, all fork braces work like this, unless they don't have any attachment for the boots, which is much worse.)
all the best,
Mike
That is a good enough answer for me. Get the Eagle M&E fork brace and you will be glad that you did.
