Bent frame?

[Guest]

I'm worried my bike's frame is bent.

There's a much bigger gap between wheel and fender on the left side than the right. I can barely get one finger between tire and fender on the right, but there's loads of room on the left.

Also, with the grab bar fully seated on the shock studs, there's a major difference between how close the bolt-guides for the grab rail are to the frame in the rear. The fender's dented, but I don't think the fender is the cause of the problems.

If it's bent, what can I do? The tire doesn't seem to be rubbing, but I wonder if it could if I bottomed out the shocks (I'm pretty sure this doesn't happen)

Here are some photos.
This first one shows the big difference between the two sides.


Here's the right interface between the grab rail and frame. I left out the rear blinkers.


And the left side:


You can see there's not even enough room to put the blinker mount between the grab rail and frame with the grab rail seated correctly on the shock studs.

The bike was laid down - I'm pretty sure on the left side because the leftmost exhaust header was bent all to hell and I had to replace it. The speedo cable was also crushed, and it runs on the left side. But I don't understand why the rear frame would be bent to the left if the bike was laid down on the left side...

If it is bent, do I get it straightened somehow or ...?

[koolaid_kid]

Technically that is called the rear subframe. It will not affect alignment or anything. You might be able to straighten it yourself using a block and tackle and a little ingenuity.

[WilliamGLX81]

Woohoo! Hmmm. Block and tackle?

I'm imagining using a tree and a block and tackle, but don't know how I could keep the bike from moving without damaging it.

[Nessism]

You might want to look for Basscliff's thread about straightening the subframe on his Jesse bike. Good fun.