How to tell if forks are bent ? | GTAMotorcycle.com

How to tell if forks are bent ?

Dr.Manhattan

Dr.Manhattan

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I've never been down on my bike, however the person I bought it from said that he had, however it was inspected, passed the safety, yadda yadda. Anyhow, I know the handle bars are crooked maybe 5 degrees to the right when riding. I changed the way I was sitting and so fourth, thinking it was just my riding position, as this bike was all checked over, but felt that wasn't it. Any body have any tips on how to check the forks and such to see if this is the problem ?
 
If fork legs aren't straight, they're usually bent just underneath the lower tree. How about use a length of thin cardboard with a straight edge and cut out a notch. Place the notch over the bottom clamp so straight edge lines up with upper and lower portion of fork leg. If both ends line up then the leg is straight. If the bottom part is angled away from the edge then the leg is bent. Can you picture this?
 
put em on a assembly table...and inspect for straighness or put them on a inpection jig and measure the...run out i guess with a dial gauge..
 
RetroGrouch said:
Difficult to do when forks are on the bike. OP wants to check forks on a bike he's considering buying.
Click to expand...

Visual inspection on the bike is useless, you cant see 1mm of bend in a fork on the bike... You need to remove the forks, place them in V-blocks on a surface plate and use a dial gauge to measure the runout...

Have you checked the handle bars also? Generally those bend first
 
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sounds dumb, but maybe its just the clipon that isn't straight, since you said it was out about 5 degrees
 
Or the forks are straight, but not parallel.
 
Can you straighten forks if they are slightly bent? Rather than replacing them.

I don't know whether my forks aren't parallel, my lower triple is tweaked, or my forks are bent.

I don't want to take apart my bike, to find that it's the forks, and then wait 2 weeks to find and buy a replacement, then install, all the while not having a rideable bike.

I would also most likely pay a mechanic and don't want my bike sitting with them for so long. I use it to commute.

Would I be able to ship it off to a mechanic, and no matter what (not parallel, bent triple, bent fork) they'd be able to straighten it out. Or would I potentially have to replace the bent fork?
 
ted has a press, v blocks and a dail gage. we straighten forks all the time at rosey toes, 416-241-2523
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I honestly don't have the know how to take the forks apart and bench them. I'd considered taking them to Rosey Toes, but it's a bit of a ride for me, might just have to bite the bullet and give them a call. I'd like to make sure the bike is in tip top shape.
 
It is not unusual if a bike's been down for the triple clamps to become misaligned. In theory you can straighten them out by loosening the pinch bolts on the top clamp, push down on the bars to compress the front suspension (probably more like sit on the bars :p) and then tighten & torque the pinch bolts back up. But of course if the forks are actually bent then this won't accomplish anything.
 
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