My SG is barely eight months old and already the lower forks are covered in pit marks as though I'd been riding through a sandstorm. I do ride a lot by the ocean and do live in smoggy LA but still it seems early to be getting that much wear-and-tear on my forks. Of course, I could replace them with chrome but why should I have to?

 

You gotta do.... what you gotta do

But I'd say its the ocean riding

 

If you ride in a group this is caused by small rocks coming from other bikes.

 

salt water/air is your worst enemy!!
a buddy of mine WON a 2001 fat boy in an annual raffle held in ocean city,md.
basically they sell tickets all summer and around labor day they pick the number and announce the winner...
meanwhile the bike sits outside on a trailer on the boardwalk all summer long....well to make a long story short[too late]
he got the bike home...and it wasnt very long until he noticed pitting everywhere!! wheels, headlamp/turnsignal hardware, you name it!!
he could have stopped all that sooner if he'd kept up w/ it [cleaning ,polishing etc.] but alas , he didnt and now he has a 5 year old bike that looks 20...and only has about 525 miles on it!!![bike sat for most of those 5 years due to lack of license] what a tragedy!!

 

What they said. I live in San Diego and have had my bike exactly a year. My forks sound exactly like yours. My daily commute takes me by the ocean every morning and I'm sure that's the cause of it.

I'll take the trade off.

 

Nature's way of telling you you're lucky to be able to ride near the ocean on a regular basis.

 

It is the ocean riding, and while chrome would help, it too would have problems eventually. Salt destroys anything metal. You could sand them down, polish them, and then clear coat them. But you will have to repeat that every few years. Powder coat would probably help, but then you would have to live with a color.

 

You could do what Grunt said or just ride it.Vehicles that are in the salt air a lot will have corrosion problems.
Only the forks have this problem??Wonder if it could be from debris...sand and rocks?
If it was the salt air,I think signs of corrosion would show up the chrome and bare aluminum.

 

Paint, powder, stock or chrome....lower fork sliders take a beating from road grit!

 

Buddy of mine took his Heritage on vacation down the shore. All the studs on his seat and bags discolored and his bike is only 5 months old.