Front end allignment

[CatatonicBug]

I noticed that the front tire on my bike leans a bit to the left from where the handlbars are. I hold the handlebars straight, and the front tire looks like it's turned to the left just a tad. What do I need to do to adjust it and get things back in line? I have not been able to find anything anywhere other than complete disassembly of the forks and steering brace. Even if I was to completely remove everything, I can't seem to find anything that talks about how to be sure everything is lined up correctly upon reassembly. Any ideas??

[egsols]

Is there an even gap from left to right betwen the forks and the tire?

Are your bars perfectly straight?

[bikerphil]

Take a piece of plate glass, 8X10 or so, and lay it against the front of the upper fork tubes. If the alignment is out, the glass won't lay flat. If it's off a little, loosen your fork brace, with the front wheel between your knees, twist the handlebars in the direction it needs to go. If it's off a lot, you may need to loosen up the lower triple tree pinch bolts. Do this with the weight off the front wheel. When it appears to be straight, tighten everything back up and you should be good to go.

[dbeardslee]

Catatonicbug - basically what you do to align your forks is:

1. Place a floor jack under the engine for support.
2. Loosen all the bolts holding the tubes, the pinch bolts on the axle, and the axle bolt.
3. Start at the top by aligning the top of the tubes in relation to the top of the tripple tree.
4. Tighten the bolts from top to bottom. The last thing you should tighten is the pinch bolts. As it makes it difficult to properly torque the axle bolt, I usually tighten the pinch bolt, torque the axle bolt, and then loosen and retighten the pinch bolts.

That will get it aligned properly, but if you've got problems inside the tubes it isn't going to solve them. You want to make sure the top and bottom of the tripple tree are lined up as well. It's hard to get that out of align, but I suppose it could happen, and would result in something like you describe.

[DiverRay]

The posts here describe the proper way of checking the front forks EXCEPT this!

# Tighten the bolts from top to bottom. The last thing you should tighten is the pinch bolts. As it makes it difficult to properly torque the axle bolt, I usually tighten the pinch bolt, torque the axle bolt, and then loosen and retighten the pinch bolts.

DO NOT tighten the pinch bolt before the axle bolt!! Use a long screw driver to hold the axle as you tighten the axle bolt, and THEN tighten the pinch bolt. This will keep you from "bending" any of the lower fork components.

[dbeardslee]

Ray, That's why I loosen 'em and retighten - they pop right back out where they're supposed to be. If you can hold it with a screwdriver, that's good too. I just always seem to bend my screwdrivers that way

[CatatonicBug]

Thanks all. I guess I was just hoping for a more scientific method to getting the allignment correct. This sounds just like what I used to do with my bicycle when I was a kid, jumping off too many curbs and twisting the handlebars sideways. So it's all just eyeballing to get it right?

[CatatonicBug]

Is there an even gap from left to right betwen the forks and the tire?

Are your bars perfectly straight?

Yeah, It all looks fine, and even drives ok, but I just noticed that when the bike was going straight, the handlebars were turned a tiny bit.

[dbeardslee]

Catatonic - Sounds like your handlebars might be a little bent.

[CatatonicBug]

Catatonic - Sounds like your handlebars might be a little bent.

It doesn't seem like it. I really looked at the bars themselves and they look perfectly symetrical. I really think there is some twisting going on between the handlebars and the front axle. I will attempt the suggestions above and see what happens.