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Front wheel not pointing straight

  • Thread starter Thread starter littleroot
  • Start date Start date
L

littleroot

Guest
Sigh. I found out this morning my teenage son tried to move my motorcycle and it fell over. He got help putting it back up and this morning I noticed only the mirrors were knocked back but I thought nothing of it. No, he did not tel me it fell over. But not even a mile down the road I noticed the bars not pointing straight. Not just the bars but the instrument cluster and the headlight-mounted fairing, all pointed about 5 degrees to the right as I ride straight down the road. I was thinking it is just the bars but why would the cluster and fairing also be out of whack by the same amount?

The feeling is like on a bicycle when goosneck gets turned but I have no idea what to look for on a triple clamp.

I called the guy who helped him pick it up told me it looked like only the left side of the handle bars were pinched up against the wall and looking at the front and all around I cannot see anything except it looks like the front mud guard is no longer straight. He didn't say there was any contact with the front wheel but now I wonder.

Dumb I guess but I rode it all the way to work about six miles on the freeway and it feels OK except not pointing straight by maybe 5 degrees.

Bike is 80GS1100E.

Thanks guys for any advice.

-Bob
 
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put the front wheel up against a solid object and give it a sharp whack using the handlebars to straighten it all up. same as you would do with a bicycle.
if it refuses to budge then you will need to put it on the centre stand with the front wheel up in the air and slacken off the fork clamp bolts on the trees, twist it straight and tighten everything up
 
Agemax said:
put the front wheel up against a solid object and give it a sharp whack using the handlebars to straighten it all up.
Click to expand...
Personally, I would do the same thing, but I would loosen the clamps on the upper triple before I did that.

It appears that the forks got twisted a bit in the fall, maybe one side of the handlebar took the brunt of the impact. Just hitting the handlebars to try to straighten it out seems a little drastic, it will take less force to fix it if you remove some of the friction that is holding it out of place.

.
 
Steve said:
Personally, I would do the same thing, but I would loosen the clamps on the upper triple before I did that.

It appears that the forks got twisted a bit in the fall, maybe one side of the handlebar took the brunt of the impact. Just hitting the handlebars to try to straighten it out seems a little drastic, it will take less force to fix it if you remove some of the friction that is holding it out of place.

.
Click to expand...

Steve, the last time someone asked about the same problem, i said the same thing. slacken the tree clamps and pull it straight by hand.

i got right royally shafted by many more replies saying that was a waste of time,effort and completely unnessecary. that is why i gave this reply to this thread.
 
I would rather get "royally shafted" by the replies and take the time to do it right.
icon_shrug.gif


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23 and 31

make sure bike is in the air, or center stand, or you could end up with the forks going up or the front of the bike going down....
 
27 and 23 first. if that doesn't help much then slacken off the 4 x 31's as well.
make sure the weight is off the front wheel but supported so the whole lot doesn't drop down through the trees.
 
OK, I can put it on the center stand but then should I put a 2x4 block or a couple pieces of plywood or whatever under the front tire so that it tips the bike back just a bit?
 
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if you loosen up enough it should allow you to move everything back straight, and it should not allow the forks to rise or drop, but if you have something under the front tire to keep it at that right spot, that will and can help you out. even on the rear tire, as that will prevent the bike from tipping backwards

.
 
If it were me, I'd set a board on a floor jack under the pipes and lift the front end off the ground.
 
littleroot said:
OK, I can put it on the center stand but then should I put a 2x4 block or a couple pieces of plywood or whatever under the front tire so that it tips the bike back just a bit?
Click to expand...

i would weight down the back end, or put a block under the engine to keep the front end up. then put a block of wood under the front wheel, not tight wedged in but enough to stop it dropping right out the trees
 
I had this exact same thing when I got knocked off before Christmas.

Up on the centre stand, trolley jack with a piece of timber on top under the sump and lifted enough that the front tyre was just touching the ground.

I loosened the upper and lower triple clamp bolts and held the front wheel between my legs while I moved the 'bars to where they should have been.

Lined everything up by eye, tightened the bolts, and everything was good.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I will do this tonight time allowing. Hard to believe the cheap handle bars did not just bend. Almost wish they would have as I'm not fond of them!
 
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