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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Alignment?
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Message started by Graven754 on 06/23/16 at 20:35:37

Title: Alignment?
Post by Graven754 on 06/23/16 at 20:35:37

I'm not sure what it is but when I'm riding. Perfectly straight going down the road isn't perfectly straight for me. I'm holding the handlebars in a very slight angle. My right grip is closer to me than my left grip. Is this a common thing that happens to bikes. The last owners layer it down and then had it repaired.
Any thoughts?

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by KennyG on 06/23/16 at 20:58:44

Probably the handlebars are twisted in the forks.

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/23/16 at 21:12:33

Loosen up the pinch bolts on the lower triple tree plate.
Stand across the front wheel, yank the bars straight.

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by Graven754 on 06/23/16 at 21:15:49

Could anybody offer some pictures for explanation when you get the chance? It would help so much.

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by ohiomoto on 06/24/16 at 03:29:00

First make sure the bars are sitting square on the top clamp. The bar mounts can get twisted in the rubber mounts and the bolts may be bent.

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by Gary_in_NJ on 06/24/16 at 05:48:41

Is this just a visual thing, or is the bike pulling to one side? If you take your hands off the bars does the bike initiate a turn? Is the tire wear even on your tires or do you see any cupping on the front tire?

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by stewmills on 06/24/16 at 06:29:05

I don't have pictures to guide the checking of alignment, but an important question is has the bike ever been wrecked or dropped? Are you the first owner? If the answer is NO it has never been dropped or wrecked, then it's likely just a simple alignment. If you acquired the bike from someone, there may be other things (not always critical) that could be going on that the team here may want you to rule out for safety reasons.

UPDATED: Sorry, JOG corrected me...I somehow read the original post too fast and totally missed the part about the previous owner.
Not enough coffee....OR too much? :o :o :o :o :o

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/24/16 at 08:10:39

. The last owners layer it down and then had it repaired

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by verslagen1 on 06/24/16 at 09:15:15

1st sight along the handlebars, compare the bars against the front edge of the triple tree.
Then stand aside the bike and sight the 2 risers, are they parallel and square the the top triple tree?
Next lift the front end off the ground, you may want to loosen the bottom triple tree 1st and the caps to the forks, LOOSEN, not remove. You may as well do the axle bolt too.
With the wheel off the ground, loosen all the bolts enough to allow some movement in the forks. (At this point you could remove the wheel, fender and caliper and turn a fork tube in the tree to see if it were bent. But I'd do this later if the minor straightening didn't work.)
I'd tighten the axle, this will align the fork lowers together.
Then the caps, followed by the pinch bolts.
One other thing you could do, but shouldn't affect where the bars are is check the fork oil levels.
Take the caps off, pull out the spacers and washers, let the bike go down to collapse the forks so you can see the oil level, oil level should be even.

Title: Re: Alignment?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 06/24/16 at 10:21:18

5F58495B414540405F2C0 wrote:

I know the feeling all too well.