• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Aligning Twisted Fork Tubes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
If you have been working on the forks, or if you have nudged something like the gutter or a barrier in the car park, you can end up with the fork tubes not quite aligned. This will mess up the bike's handling.

You normally need to align them with two straightedges, ideally one as high as possible and one as low as possible. However, things like the headlight get in the way of sighting the edges. There is an easier way.

Get a medium sized extruded alloy spirit-level. This will have an I-beam cross-section - (small levels are usually rectangular section) - preferably about 4 inches between the flanges. The extrusion has the advantage of high accuracy, after all, that is what the level is supposed to have.

Put the level edge-on across the tubes above the fork seals. If it rocks slightly it means that the tubes are not aligned. If it sits solidly, the tubes are OK.

To align the tubes, loosen (not sloppy, just loose) top and bottom triple tree clamps. Check which tube shows the gap between the tube and the top edge of the level. Lock the wheel in place with your legs and pull on the handle-bar of that tube. Check again. Keep checking until you get rid of the gap.

Tighten the triple tree clamps - carefully so as not to knock it out of alignment again, and check the tubes with the level again.

When you have no gaps the tubes are as good as they can be.

Safe riding,
Kim
 
Where could one pick up these split levels....
and what kind of straight edeges are we talking about for the first method?
 
GS77 said:
Where could one pick up these split levels....
and what kind of straight edeges are we talking about for the first method?
Click to expand...

A spirit level, from a builder's supply or hardware store.

Any straight thing will do, as long as it's really straight. Most things aren't. A metal ruler, preferable two foot long or longer will do. Wooden things are not usually straight enough. Or get some extruded aluminium section, two pieces each a metre long, a quarter inch by one inch section. Check them against each other to make sure they are not warped.

Kim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top