Tip over resulted in crooked handle bar

[Yamajank]

So I’ve been procrastinating this project because I have to take so much of the body work off to get to the lower triples.  Anyway I’ve gone ahead and done the whole thing.  Lower, axle, fender, calipers, stem nut.  I took it out and it rides just fine.  I don’t know that it’s really any different than when I put it in my knees and cranked, but I suppose it should be.  I bought this new, and I’ve always thought the handlebars didn’t exactly square with the wheel.  I’m not sure if it’s just an illusion caused by the dash maybe not being exactly square, or some other reference point but I thought maybe doing this little exercise would possibly straighten that out also.  It didn’t.  Could a fork height difference of .25mm cause the bar to track just a slight bit one way?  Is it a matter of just loosening the stem nut and trying to center it carefully?  I’m virtually certain the bars aren’t bent.  Like I said, I’ve noticed this off kilter thing long ago.

[RaYzerman]

Don't overthink it.  Leave the axle torqued up, that is a sandwich holding the wheel perfectly aligned with the lower fork tubes.  The upper tubes are held firmly in the lower triple clamp, leave that alone too.  What is twisted is the upper triple clamp to the lower..... the upper and lower fork tubes can move rotationally to each other, but that's what allows you to realign things.

All you have to do is loosen the upper triple clamp pinch bolts, realign the bars straight relative to the lower triple, perhaps you can gunsight that.  Jounce the forks if you like, might help.  Once realigned, just snug up the upper pinch bolts.  Simple as can be.

No a fork a smidge higher than the other also means nothing.  15mm difference maybe, just means the other one has to catch up when jouncing about, might affect handling in tight twisties..  Anyway, any where close to the same is plenty good.

Edited February 28 by RaYzerman

[jthayer09]

2 hours ago, RaYzerman said:

Don't overthink it.  Leave the axle torqued up, that is a sandwich holding the wheel perfectly aligned with the lower fork tubes.  The upper tubes are held firmly in the lower triple clamp, leave that alone too.  What is twisted is the upper triple clamp to the lower..... the upper and lower fork tubes can move rotationally to each other, but that's what allows you to realign things.

As stated elsewhere in the thread: the axle keeps the wheel aligned to the axle, that's it. It doesn't guarantee true alignment of the forks to the wheel, or the handlebars to the wheel

As you have stated: the forks can still move rotationally as there is enough slop to do so. Issue is that if everything's torqued down it is one body that moves together (you turn your handle bars, which turns your forks, which turns your wheel) that makes up the front-end. Unless you loosen things to move independently of each other they will continue to move as one system.

If @Yamajank's handlebars are not aligned with the wheel then either the steering head nut needs to be loosened or the front axle needs to be loosened so the wheel and handlebars can move independently of each other so they can dial them back in. Just loosening pinch bolts for the forks isn't going to let him move his handlebars or wheel independently from the rest of the front end. If you are correct and the triple trees are twisted, the only way they're gonna move back into alignment is if that 110Nm nut pressing them together is loosened.

It's highly unlikely the triple tree clamps got twisted when they're held together with the steering neck stem through the frame of the bike and torqued together with the steering head nut (110Nm) on top of 2 steering bearing rings (52Nm and 18Nm). I don't think a tip over has enough force to twist the triple trees, and he'd be seeing other issues first like notchy steering from shot bearings, jittery ride from uneven suspension due to the twist, or at minimum shaking handlebars; but apparently the bike rides fine.

@Yamajank are you sure you don't have a bent fork? Or... this may sound dumb, but are you sure the handlebar holders didn't get rotated a bit separate from the rest of the front-end?



If the handlebar holders got rotated together to throw off your handlebars there are just nuts on the bottom of the triple tree you can loosen up and move them back in alignment.

[Yamajank]

1 hour ago, jthayer09 said:

As stated elsewhere in the thread: the axle keeps the wheel aligned to the axle, that's it. It doesn't guarantee true alignment of the forks to the wheel, or the handlebars to the wheel

As you have stated: the forks can still move rotationally as there is enough slop to do so. Issue is that if everything's torqued down it is one body that moves together (you turn your handle bars, which turns your forks, which turns your wheel) that makes up the front-end. Unless you loosen things to move independently of each other they will continue to move as one system.

If @Yamajank's handlebars are not aligned with the wheel then either the steering head nut needs to be loosened or the front axle needs to be loosened so the wheel and handlebars can move independently of each other so they can dial them back in. Just loosening pinch bolts for the forks isn't going to let him move his handlebars or wheel independently from the rest of the front end. If you are correct and the triple trees are twisted, the only way they're gonna move back into alignment is if that 110Nm nut pressing them together is loosened.

It's highly unlikely the triple tree clamps got twisted when they're held together with the steering neck stem through the frame of the bike and torqued together with the steering head nut (110Nm) on top of 2 steering bearing rings (52Nm and 18Nm). I don't think a tip over has enough force to twist the triple trees, and he'd be seeing other issues first like notchy steering from shot bearings, jittery ride from uneven suspension due to the twist, or at minimum shaking handlebars; but apparently the bike rides fine.

@Yamajank are you sure you don't have a bent fork? Or... this may sound dumb, but are you sure the handlebar holders didn't get rotated a bit separate from the rest of the front-end?



If the handlebar holders got rotated together to throw off your handlebars there are just nuts on the bottom of the triple tree you can loosen up and move them back in alignment.

I was looking at those.  I’ll look a little closer.  Thanks!