Keep it clean, there's some ladies in this forum!

Took a ride today on my 96 sporty 1200 and I started to get sprayed with something and my right hand (brake) also started to get some oil on it.

Brake fluid seems cool, theres no leaks from the banjo or the cover but the brake lever is catching some sort of fluid. Its relatively odor less, definitely nothing like motor oil or gasoline.

Now, the forks are starting to "leak" a little bit, some light drips as well as visible oil at the top and when it slides in and out of the tube. Could this be the culprit?

What do ya'll think?

 

The most likely source would have been your master cylinder cover but if you check the cover and no leaks, then it could possibly come from the fork since the brake cable runs along the fork but in my opinion unlikely unless your fork is spraying oil up the fork to get on your hand i.e. against gravity. Can't be the banjo otherwise you would feel it in your brakes and you would need to bleed the system.

If you are a decent wrencher, it is inexpensive and relatively easy to replace fork seals and dust covers...just to eliminate the fork as a possibility. Here is a thread I created a how to replace fork seals or sliders. It is a guide...always use your service manual.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...placement.html

 

Could be. Might check the fork seals or replace them. The sliders should be nice and clean.

 

Im definitely going to replace the fork seals, probably not till it gets a little cooler out.

I just rebuilt a dyna so Ive been neglecting the sporty a little bit...

So theres no leaks anywhere, which is what makes it so odd, but my fingers on the brake lever are getting wet, but the brake doesnt feel spongy or at all like its not working aside from the "is this brake fluid??! is my brake going to fail?!?!" placebo.

It also looked like there was a visible "streak" of fluid down the mirror. I have upside down mirrors, which makes me think its a leak. I also saw ONE drip at one point while on the highway, but only one, and never again, and im not sure where it came from but it certainly didnt come from the fork area.

BUT the forks are moist when im done with it, and this was maybe a 15 minute cruise.

I plan to redo all of my brake lines anyway once I got the dyna all finished up so maybe ill just add the master to that list to keep everything fresh.

 

Did you find/fix your problem yet? I had leaky fork seals in my sporty and the pressure did force a mist of fork oil up as high as the handlebars. Rebuilt forks and no more mist.

 

I got busy, did some travel for work, rode the dyna instead since its relatively problem free.

Im popped the cover off and resat the gasket and im going to see if that did the trick. The fluid looks significantly lower then it was last time i checked so im thinking it has to be that.

Everything also washed out of my clothes and since brake fluid is water soluble im guessing its definitely that fluid and not fork oil. Ill keep the thread updated if / when i figure it out.