Bike pulling to the left

[brodydog]

Hope all is well with you.

Thanks to the stunning help I received here last time I had an incident I have saved a stack of cash repairing my bike myself and am again in need of your advice.

A nice Nissan Micra knocked me off my bike last week and promptly failed to stop - I was 'really pleased' about that as you can probably imagine. The incident happened at 10mph and the bike fell over on top of me. Apart froma brused ego I am fine and I am pleased to report R&G Crash Protectors do the job on the tin nicely.

The front stay was bent so I have replaced this but the handlebars are out of line. In the attached picture the handlebars are dead level, the front wheel is definitely not going straight.

How does one correct this?, is this a simple fix? When I ride the bike it feels like it's pulling to the left but I suppose it could be me thinking that and having to compensate on the steering.

Cheers,

Stuart

 

[Wavex]

Is it the handlebar itself that's bent? or are you saying that your forks are not aligned properly in the triple clamp anymore?

# 1 would be an easy fix, #2 will be a bit more difficult...

 

[madmanmaigret]

Pull off all of your upper fairing.
find where your triple tree attaches to the forks (2 places)
loosen all four bolts (have a friend handy for this)
Hold the tire straight, and turn the bars to straight.
Hold it all in that position and tighten up your bolts ( I think 40 ft-lbs....?)
Put it all back together
Drink a beer and revel in you accomplishment!

 

[madmanmaigret]

Pull off all of your upper fairing.
find where your triple tree attaches to the forks (2 places)
loosen all four bolts (have a friend handy for this)
Hold the tire straight, and turn the bars to straight.
Hold it all in that position and tighten up your bolts ( I think 40 ft-lbs....?)
Put it all back together
Drink a beer and revel in you accomplishment!

Unless your bars are bent............Thanks Wavex!

 

[brodydog]

Thanks guys!

I am pretty sure the bars are not bent; however I will do some measurements to see.

I really appreciate the advice, it's of great assistance.

Stuart

 

[Katana07]

Hello,

I am new to this forum as well to the FZ6. I bought my 2005 just yesterday and have already rode it approximately 200 miles. the only thing I have found wrong with it, is that when the bike is tracking straight on the highway, the handlebars apprear to be bent very slightly to the right (left handlebar forward). I am fairly certain it is not the handlebars because the frame where the handlebars attach to, is also at a slight angle. The previous owner said the bike went down a while back, but wasn't going very fast. I can only assume that the forks are slightly bent. I was wondering if loosening those bolts helped you or not. I am assuming you put the bike on the centerstand for this job, or did you use a motorcycle jack? Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Wolfman]

Lol....straightening an out of line set of front forks is real fun......i suggest you take lots of medicine with you on this job.....a real good sense of humour, someone who is very meticulous re getting things straight, and liberal sprinklings of beer!

good luck....:thumbup:

 

[RJ2112]

Hope all is well with you.

Thanks to the stunning help I received here last time I had an incident I have saved a stack of cash repairing my bike myself and am again in need of your advice.

A nice Nissan Micra knocked me off my bike last week and promptly failed to stop - I was 'really pleased' about that as you can probably imagine. The incident happened at 10mph and the bike fell over on top of me. Apart froma brused ego I am fine and I am pleased to report R&G Crash Protectors do the job on the tin nicely.

The front stay was bent so I have replaced this but the handlebars are out of line. In the attached picture the handlebars are dead level, the front wheel is definitely not going straight.

How does one correct this?, is this a simple fix? When I ride the bike it feels like it's pulling to the left but I suppose it could be me thinking that and having to compensate on the steering.

Cheers,

Stuart

I would suggest a slightly different process for aligning the fork.....

1) Loosen the upper triple clamp pinch bolts, the fender mounts, and the axle. DO NOT loosen the lower triple clamp.

2) with all other points loosened, sit on the bike with the front brakes applied, and 'bounce' the fork as deeply through it's stroke as you can, 8-10 times.

3) tighten all the bolts you loosened.

The fork tubes will align to each other, when you use this method.... no measurements are needed. You have to give the tubes enough freedom to re align, but not enough to slide up and down in the clamps..... which is why you only loosen the upper clamps. Everything pivots around the lower clamps.