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| *Vultures Knob>>>Bicycle Shop |
Bent/Twisted Forks? |
Hey guys, A couple of days ago I ended up hitting a patch of gravel and dropped my bike going about 15-20mph. Fortunately there wasn't much damage, but I noticed that on the ride home I had to keep the steering wheel at an angle in order for it to ride straight. I know it's got something to do with the forks, but if anyone could give me some advice on what to do to fix it or if I need to just take it in to a shop. If I do need to take it in, about how much would it cost? Thanks Just one thing to add, after loosening the triple clamp bolts also loosen the axle before attempting to straighten the the forks. Sometimes everything will spring right back into place once all tension is removed. It's unlikely you bent your forks falling over, you usually have to run into something pretty hard to bend forks. Far more likely is that the fork tubes slipped in the triple clamp. The way I straighten the front end out is to loosen the clamp bolts just enough to where you can bump the side of your tire against a tree or light post to get it to move.Ride around the block and do it again. After a few adjustments you should be able to get it lined up , then tighten the clamps. You'd better hope it's something to do with the handlebars instead: a new fork tube runs on the order of $400 for a sportbike. Handlebars are one of two varieties: clip-ons where each handle can come off the bike separately or traditional tube like on a bicycle. If they are clip-ons make sure they're pushed down all the way to the top of the "triple tree". It could be one fork tube got pushed up a bit where the locator blob popped out of its normal spot and so the orientation of the bars to the triple tree is tweaked. Should be something you can determine yourself -- zero dollars. For the traditional type you may have bent the mounts which hold the bar down onto the triple tree -- swap those out since bending them back can cause metal fatigue. It's unlikely the bar itself was bent where the weakest parts are the screws and mounts that hold the assembly together. The cost depends on how fancy you want to get in terms of replacement I think and whether you can do the job yourself. You've simply twisted the forks out of alignment. The correct way to resolve this problem is to relieve all pressure from the forks (hanging the front of the bike from the rafters is OK), and then loosen the bolts on the upper and lower triple clamps. Give the bars a light shake and the forks will probably re-align. Now tighten the bolts back and you'll probably be OK. If it needs further adjustment, you can do that by re-loosening the bolts and pulling on the bars in the appropriate direction while the front wheel is held solid. Hope this helps. more than likely you merely "tweeked" the forks. the simple resolution is to stand in front of the bike facing the headlight, putting your knees on either side of your front tire, grab the bars and twist in the direction of misalignment. more than likely, with just a little fine tuning, everything will be fine without any loosening. OR sitting on the bike, use of a tree, fence post, (rear bumper of your neighbors car you don't care for... LOL) or other realitively sturdy object, merely place the front tire against something and twist the bars until they "feel" straight. if this method doesn't fix your problem, then start loosening triple clamp and axle and try again... this is a very common occurance (especially with off road bikes). also it is likely you bent your handle bars??? which would mean you might need to remove and straighten or replace... steel bars can typically be bent back to almost straight, where aluminum bars only bend so far then snap due to the temper of the metal. good luck! I hope you don't have a steering wheel on your bike. If you just dropped the bike and didn't hit anything, it's doubtful you bent the forks, but it's very likely you may have tweaked your handlebars. could be forks or tripple clamps... what type of bike what year? |
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