I think my bars may be twisted

[Less]

I had a low side on Monday and luckily both me and the bike came out with some very minor scratches. rode the bike home with no problem. But as I was riding home it appears the handlebars may be a bit twisted to the right.

The bike rode fine, it did not pull and tracked perfectly straight so I don't think it's the front end at all, but I think I may have just pulled on the grips somehow as I fell and moved the bars. It's very difficult to see as if it is off it's only 2-3degrees out of true straight. I don't know if this is something I can fix or should even bother to try.

The only other damage was to the right frame slider, the bottom of my saddle bag and the right mirror has a very slight rash. No other obvious damage, no leaking from the forks, no flat tires, no damage to the engine or frame, nothing to indicate anything more than a slide at 25mph.

Can I just loosen the main nut under the handle bars and see if I can move it the slight amount back to the left?

 

[Motogiro]

You can try that but they may be tweaked. New ones are not that expensive.

I put FZ1 bars on mine and have an extra stock bar off my 06 which I think is the same. Probably cheaper to buy new than have me ship you mine stock and then they'll probably tweak these on the way.

 

[Kilbane83]

The way the front end is designed, it'd be impossible for the handlebars to be slightly out of whack and the bike to track perfectly straight unless the bars or something else was physically bent. There is no way for the bars to move forward or backward, only rotate or slide to one side or the other. If they are actually bent, it'd be really hard,to correct that. I'd just buy a new set of bars they're like $25.

The triple tree is designed to allow the fork tubes to rotate in the event of a crash, this helps reduce the chances of bending or breaking a hard part. When this happens the triple (hence the handlebars connected to it) would be slightly off angle when the bike was going perfectly straight. You can correct they usually by holding the tire between your legs and tweaking the bars in the proper direction. I'd retighten everything after this.

Hope this helps :thumbup:

 

[Less]

The way the front end is designed, it'd be impossible for the handlebars to be slightly out of whack and the bike to track perfectly straight unless the bars or something else was physically bent. There is no way for the bars to move forward or backward, only rotate or slide to one side or the other. If they are actually bent, it'd be really hard,to correct that. I'd just buy a new set of bars they're like $25.

The triple tree is designed to allow the fork tubes to rotate in the event of a crash, this helps reduce the chances of bending or breaking a hard part. When this happens the triple (hence the handlebars connected to it) would be slightly off angle when the bike was going perfectly straight. You can correct they usually by holding the tire between your legs and tweaking the bars in the proper direction. I'd retighten everything after this.

Hope this helps :thumbup:

I don't think the bars are actually bent so replacing them would be useless, it's more that as I go down the road straight the bars point ever so slightly to the right.

If I don't look down at the bars then I would not notice anything different with the handling or tracking of the bike. I'm glad to hear that the triple tree
rotates or flexes to avoid damage, and I don't think they are out of square. If I want to try and hold the tire between my legs and pulling the bars back to the left should I start by loosening the large center nut?

 

[FZ1inNH]

No Less. What you want to do is put the bike on the center stand and weight the back to lift the front off the ground. You would then loosen the triples as they clamp each fork but only enough to be able to grip and twist them, not enough that they would fall out. Once you've twisted them and have the bar straight and the wheel aligned, you torque these clamps back to specs. Pay CLOSE attention to the amount of fork that extends through the top triple. Be sure that when you tighten it all back down, both forks are equally showing the same amount of tube above the triple.

Hope that helps!

 

[Less]

No Less. What you want to do is put the bike on the center stand and weight the back to lift the front off the ground. You would then loosen the triples as they clamp each fork but only enough to be able to grip and twist them, not enough that they would fall out. Once you've twisted them and have the bar straight and the wheel aligned, you torque these clamps back to specs. Pay CLOSE attention to the amount of fork that extends through the top triple. Be sure that when you tighten it all back down, both forks are equally showing the same amount of tube above the triple.

Hope that helps!

OK, so when you say the Triple that indicates to me 3 bolts, but you are only suggesting I loosen the two bolts that hold on the down tubes, not the one large nut in the center?

 

[FZ1inNH]

These four indicated by the red arrows:

View attachment 17204

View attachment 17205

 

[Kilbane83]

You'd want to loosen the two bolts on the sides of the top triple, and maybe the 2 on the lower. Don't loosen them very much or the tubes will drop right out of there. The top nut shouldn't need to be loosened.. but you'll want to make sure it's tight when you're done.

 

[Less]

These four indicated by the red arrows:

View attachment 17204

View attachment 17205

You guys are amazing with your ability to help out with such great diagrams and schematics. I was so far off in what I thought and now I see exactly what you are refering to.

Thanks, as soon as my shoulders stop hurting I'll try this. Might be part of the weekend tinkering along with the BD43 light mod.

 

[FZ1inNH]

You guys are amazing with your ability to help out with such great diagrams and schematics. I was so far off in what I thought and now I see exactly what you are refering to.

Thanks, as soon as my shoulders stop hurting I'll try this. Might be part of the weekend tinkering along with the BD43 light mod.

What likely happened is in your slide, the front wheel tweaked the forks and twisted them a bit in the triples. It doesn't mean anything is necessarily broken, but it would be a good idea to have a pro look at the forks to see if one or both are even remotely bent. Often a good shop and press them back to straight if the bend is slight and save you the cost of a new fork tube.

Hope it is just this simple and you can straighten them and all is well!

 

[Less]

What likely happened is in your slide, the front wheel tweaked the forks and twisted them a bit in the triples. It doesn't mean anything is necessarily broken, but it would be a good idea to have a pro look at the forks to see if one or both are even remotely bent. Often a good shop and press them back to straight if the bend is slight and save you the cost of a new fork tube.

Hope it is just this simple and you can straighten them and all is well!

Me too!! if the forks were actually bent wouldn't I notice a wobble or vibration or it wouldn't track straight? Because I didn't notice any of this.

In fact if I didn't look down while riding I wouldn't have suspected anything was wrong. And I had to look real hard to even notice that it might be off at all. But I do think they are twisted <5 degrees to the right while going straight.

 

[Jake]

Same thing happened to me. As mentioned before, make sure you don't over-loosen the bolts prior to adjustment.... and make sure you TIGHTEN them all back BEFORE you take it for a ride.

If you have a friend help it makes rotating the wheel back into alignment easier. Put the bike on the centerstand and sit on it. Move the handlebars bars to where they should be. Your friend puts the front wheel between his legs and forces the wheel back into position. Eyeball it and repeat as necessary until the wheel is in visual alignment with the bars. Tighten bolts and take for a test ride to verify it rides ok. Repeat prior steps if not.

 

[Less]

Yes, I think they just got turned a bit in the triple trees when I went down.

I had the bike up on the center stand today to do the BD43 dual light mod and I put the front tire between my knees and gave the bar a tug, it actually went a bit to the other direction ( a bit left now), so I knew the triple tree clamps must be a bit loose. I reversed myself and tugged it back to square and then went around and tightened the triple tree top clamps as much as I could. They didn't move much, but it must have been just enough.

I rode for a good two hours and all seemed ok, so I'm going to assume that was it and rest easy.

 

[madmanmaigret]

tightened the triple tree top clamps as much as I could.

Easy there buddy! I think the recommended torque is around 40 Ft-lbs.... Unless you are extremly weak or have a tiny ratchet you have over torqued these bolts and you could have dented your fork tubes. We have manuals on here that will help you out alot with these minor repairs and have all the torque specs in them. If you do not have a torque wrench.....buy one or let someone who does work on your bike. You can get them fairly cheap and they are a great investment to keep from damaging something you are trying to fix.

 

[Less]

Easy there buddy! I think the recommended torque is around 40 Ft-lbs.... Unless you are extremly weak or have a tiny ratchet you have over torqued these bolts and you could have dented your fork tubes. We have manuals on here that will help you out alot with these minor repairs and have all the torque specs in them. If you do not have a torque wrench.....buy one or let someone who does work on your bike. You can get them fairly cheap and they are a great investment to keep from damaging something you are trying to fix.

I didn't use a ratchet, I used an allen wrench and I didn't stand on it so I don't think I could have bent the tubes. Just snugged it up. Probably would have bent or broken the little allen wrench way before 40ft/lbs. I agree in many instances torque wrenchs are helpful, but I've also seen a lot of situations where they give people a false confidence and they end up stripping out screws or over tourquing because they don't use it properly or stop when they hear the click.