Author Topic: Bent Forks  (Read 1290 times)

Offline blue72beetle

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Bent Forks
« on: May 10, 2019, 06:58:03 PM »
When I ride my 2010, it's very obvious something isn't aligned up front. The bars tilt to the left, i.e. the left handlebar is further back than the right one. I can look down the forks and see that the triples are tilted left also. This tells me it's not just the handlebars. The bike rides straight hands off however.
I know the bike was dropped by a previous owner on it's right side. What I don't know is what's bent.
I've tried the various methods of loosening up the forks and triples and correctly tightening everything back up.

So what can easily bend up front? It seems that the outer fork tubes (upper) are pretty beefy, don't seem like those would bend easily. Lower fork tubes? Where would they bend at? Do triples ever get bent out of true?
Can a shop like Traxxion or Race Tech check the forks to see if they're bent?

Offline Freddy

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2019, 11:24:41 PM »
Assuming that the forks are not bent, it's possible that a drop will cause your issue if they have rotated slightly in one of the triple clamps.  The wheel needs to be held rigidly in the straight ahead position, the lower triple clamp bolts loosened, the bars then turned to the straight ahead position and held there while the lower clamp bolts are tightened.

When fork tubes get bent it often happens immediately below the lower clamp - or it can happen to the inner tube too but that should be apparent with the forks fully extended and the wheel removed.   The forks may need to be removed or lowered a bit to check for distortion (slight bulge) in the area of the clamp - or removed completely and rolled on a flat surface to check.
The best substitute for brains is .............what?

Offline Poseidon

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2019, 03:41:27 AM »
...or someone didn’t align the forks properly after they were serviced.
2017 Concours 14
2016 Victory Magnum
2013 M109R
2016 Can Am Spyder F3T - Wife's bike

Offline PH14

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2019, 11:17:20 AM »
...or someone didn’t align the forks properly after they were serviced.

That is my guess.

Offline Freddy

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2019, 05:59:22 PM »
...........hence the twist or 'tilt' he refers to.  But the bike has had a fall, so...........
The best substitute for brains is .............what?

Offline Poseidon

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2019, 05:36:51 AM »
...........hence the twist or 'tilt' he refers to.  But the bike has had a fall, so...........

The OP said it was dropped on its right side. It would have to be one hell of a drop to bend the forks. Sounds more like they were not aligned properly after being serviced to me.

Either way, he is going to need to pull the Tupperware and tear into it. When he does, it should be ptretty obvious which it is.
2017 Concours 14
2016 Victory Magnum
2013 M109R
2016 Can Am Spyder F3T - Wife's bike

Offline PH14

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2019, 12:19:17 PM »
...........hence the twist or 'tilt' he refers to.  But the bike has had a fall, so...........

It would have to be on hell of a drop to bend something up front. An accident yes, a mere drop, i sincerely doubt it. A drop could screw alignment up if parts were not tightened properly, but not bend something. I truly hope the front end of the Concours isn't that fragile.

Offline blue72beetle

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2019, 08:30:54 PM »
That's what I figured, I thought upside down forks were much stronger than normal style forks.
May be awhile before I dig into it, now that winter is over I want to ride, not wrench.
Although I'll probably need tires soon, may ask the shop to check it out when they do the tires.

Offline PH14

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Re: Bent Forks
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2019, 12:24:00 PM »
Aligning them is really not overly difficult, though getting to things on the front end can be a pain. Basically you loosen the bottom yoke, axle, and the nut on top of the top yoke, and anything else that will affect movement of the fork tubes in the bottom yoke, like the calipers and fender, then bounce the front end up and down a few times, then tighten things up. The forks will align themselves. Here is a wordy video that shows the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNEmOqY02EU