Tip over resulted in crooked handle bar

[Yamajank]

I misjudged the incline on a weird street that I stopped on and the bike tipped over.  Very embarrassed and angry, but live and learn.  Anyway the bars were “off” when I picked it up.  I had my buddy hold the tire and we managed to re-align the bars but that makes me think something in there is not as tight as it should be.  Or is it normal for this to happen?  I have the ability and the time to dig into it this winter, but I’m hoping for some pointers as to what I might be looking for during the process.  Thanks

[mikerbiker]

From an earlier post:

 

Got around to straightening my Bars/Forks. Took a whopping 15 min   

- I loosened the front axle 1st  

- loosened the lower triple clamp retaining bolts 

- left the top triple tree bolts alone 

- stood in front of the bike and held the tire between my knees and turned the bars in the direction I wanted. I didn't feel any movement or hear any creaking, but looking at the bars from the back showed they were pretty straight. 

- tightened front axle Then lower triple tree. Took her for a ride and she's perfectly straight now.  

Still wondering why the dealer couldn't handle this easy fix.... 

https://www.tracer900.net/topic/1303-handlebars-crooked/?do=findComment&comment=14356

[Yamajank]

1 hour ago, mikerbiker said:

From an earlier post:

 

Got around to straightening my Bars/Forks. Took a whopping 15 min   

- I loosened the front axle 1st  

- loosened the lower triple clamp retaining bolts 

- left the top triple tree bolts alone 

- stood in front of the bike and held the tire between my knees and turned the bars in the direction I wanted. I didn't feel any movement or hear any creaking, but looking at the bars from the back showed they were pretty straight. 

- tightened front axle Then lower triple tree. Took her for a ride and she's perfectly straight now.  

Still wondering why the dealer couldn't handle this easy fix.... 

https://www.tracer900.net/topic/1303-handlebars-crooked/?do=findComment&comment=14356

So you’re suggesting that’s there’s nothing wrong with the steering stem?

[skipperT]

12 hours ago, Yamajank said:

I misjudged the incline on a weird street that I stopped on and the bike tipped over.  Very embarrassed and angry, but live and learn.  Anyway the bars were “off” when I picked it up.  I had my buddy hold the tire and we managed to re-align the bars but that makes me think something in there is not as tight as it should be.  Or is it normal for this to happen?  I have the ability and the time to dig into it this winter, but I’m hoping for some pointers as to what I might be looking for during the process.  Thanks

Yes. Normal occurrence. 
you can take a torque wrench and go through and check upper and lower pinch bolt torque where the fork tubes are secured in the steering clamps if it makes you feel better. 

glad your buddy was available to help you - I usually find a post or corner of a dumpster and force the sidewall of the front tire into the object by using the handlebars. This jars everything back into alignment but can take a couple tries if you go too far. We call that a “de-tweak”. 

10 hours ago, Yamajank said:

So you’re suggesting that’s there’s nothing wrong with the steering stem?

There’s nothing wrong. A tip over is not enough force to bend steering stems/triple trees.
It CAN bend a handlebar however. 
usually a fork tube will be bent along with the steering stem if the front end took that hard of a hit. 
-Skip. 

[bwringer]

This is pretty normal; in simple tipovers on any bike, you have to loosen and re-align, but it's rare for metal to get bent.

To put this another way, the clamps and hardware are designed to be able to slip a little rather than bend things.

[betoney]

On 1/4/2024 at 6:22 AM, skipperT said:

I usually find a post or corner of a dumpster and force the sidewall of the front tire into the object by using the handlebars. This jars everything back into alignment but can take a couple tries if you go too far. We call that a “de-tweak”.

I have used this method since I was a kid on my bicycles and have done it many, many times on dirt bikes over the years.  A method we used was standing facing the front of the bike with the front wheel between our knees and giving the handlebars a quick jerk in the opposite direction.

[Yamajank]

On 1/3/2024 at 9:41 PM, mikerbiker said:

From an earlier post:

 

Got around to straightening my Bars/Forks. Took a whopping 15 min   

- I loosened the front axle 1st  

- loosened the lower triple clamp retaining bolts 

- left the top triple tree bolts alone 

- stood in front of the bike and held the tire between my knees and turned the bars in the direction I wanted. I didn't feel any movement or hear any creaking, but looking at the bars from the back showed they were pretty straight. 

- tightened front axle Then lower triple tree. Took her for a ride and she's perfectly straight now.  

Still wondering why the dealer couldn't handle this easy fix.... 

https://www.tracer900.net/topic/1303-handlebars-crooked/?do=findComment&comment=14356

So only loosen the axle, and not the axle pinch bolts?

[Yamajank]

I still don’t understand what loosening the axle has to do with the alignment.  Can anyone explain?  It’s getting warm enough to throw a space heater in the garage and give this a try.  Also some are suggesting that’s it’s only going to work if you loosen the top stem nut. Thanks

Edited January 26 by Yamajank

[jthayer09]

1 hour ago, Yamajank said:

I still don’t understand what loosening the axle has to do with the alignment.  Can anyone explain?  It’s getting warm enough to throw a space heater in the garage and give this a try.  Also some are suggesting that’s it’s only going to work if you loosen the top stem nut. Thanks

This is basic physics: you applied a force greater than the tension of the system holding your front end in alignment, so it became unaligned. Now, unless you can somehow recreate that force in direct opposition we are suggesting you to relieve the tension by loosening the parts holding your front end in alignment so that you can use a smaller force (less effort) to correct the issue.

Your axle holds the forks to the wheel, you need to loosen it so you can realign everything, then tighten it back up.

Honestly you should loosen everything down there that connects the forks to the wheels like fender and caliper bolts. 

[betoney]

2 hours ago, Yamajank said:

I still don’t understand what loosening the axle has to do with the alignment.  Can anyone explain?  It’s getting warm enough to throw a space heater in the garage and give this a try.  Also some are suggesting that’s it’s only going to work if you loosen the top stem nut. Thanks

I don't understand that idea either.  Whether the axle is loose or tight the wheel will ALWAYS be correctly aligned in the forks unless the wheel bearings are completely destroyed, its physically impossible for the wheel to be mis-aligned in relation to the fork bottoms and axle, however it is possible for the top portion of the forks in the triple clamps to get slightly tweaked as the top triple clamp moves independently on the steering stem.

As mentioned above, I would try the method of holding the wheel between your knees and giving the bars a quick jerk (as I wrote above, I have used that method on bicycles and my dirtbikes for over 40 years), you just might tweak it back in place in less than 10 seconds.

[kilo3]

2 hours ago, betoney said:

I don't understand that idea either.  Whether the axle is loose or tight the wheel will ALWAYS be correctly aligned in the forks

No, the wheel will always be correctly aligned with the AXLE. You got three dimensions your working with here, not two.
Poor example but think of sitting on the bike and both forks in your hands like a triple clamp, now push one fork forward, this is highly exaggerated, but this is what happens but from the wheel end but very small.  The slop being taken up is from the forks, not the other end.

[betoney]

1 hour ago, kilo3 said:

No, the wheel will always be correctly aligned with the AXLE. You got three dimensions your working with here, not two.
Poor example but think of sitting on the bike and both forks in your hands like a triple clamp, now push one fork forward, this is highly exaggerated, but this is what happens but from the wheel end but very small.  The slop being taken up is from the forks, not the other end.

Correct, the top and bottom the forks might not be true if the triple clamps aren't 100% in alignment but that's all in the top triple clamp area, loosening the axle wont change that.

[kilo3]

5 minutes ago, betoney said:

Correct, the top and bottom the forks might not be true if the triple clamps aren't 100% in alignment but that's all in the top triple clamp area, loosening the axle wont change that.

No but it removes the static binding from when the whole combo was forced previously. It isn't much, but it's a thing.

[knyte]

On 1/3/2024 at 7:41 PM, mikerbiker said:

Got around to straightening my Bars/Forks. Took a whopping 15 min   

- I loosened the front axle 1st  

- loosened the lower triple clamp retaining bolts 

- left the top triple tree bolts alone 

- stood in front of the bike and held the tire between my knees and turned the bars in the direction I wanted. I didn't feel any movement or hear any creaking, but looking at the bars from the back showed they were pretty straight. 

- tightened front axle Then lower triple tree. Took her for a ride and she's perfectly straight now.  

This makes sense to me (depending on severity I guess).  I've been wrong before, and could be again, but:

...reason being, in the terrible paint diagram, if the (lower) line at 10:00 is the right fork, and the (upper)line at 10:30 is the left fork, and the handlebars & triple tree are invisible, then it's clear that the axle could easily be at least part of the issue.

So, it makes sense to give it all a bit of slack, correct the alignment as best as possible, snug it up, bounce the front end a bit as if you'd just replaced the front tire, and lastly perform your final torque.

 

[Yamajank]

3 hours ago, betoney said:

I don't understand that idea either.  Whether the axle is loose or tight the wheel will ALWAYS be correctly aligned in the forks unless the wheel bearings are completely destroyed, its physically impossible for the wheel to be mis-aligned in relation to the fork bottoms and axle, however it is possible for the top portion of the forks in the triple clamps to get slightly tweaked as the top triple clamp moves independently on the steering stem.

As mentioned above, I would try the method of holding the wheel between your knees and giving the bars a quick jerk (as I wrote above, I have used that method on bicycles and my dirtbikes for over 40 years), you just might tweak it back in place in less than 10 seconds.

I did yank it back while on that particular ride.  But I guess I’m being a bit of a perfectionist and want it to be as straight as I can get it.