Ok so here's a brief story to cover the background before going further into the problem. I got into an accident about 6 mths ago, went down on the left side and also got a knicked left fork (not sure if related to the mentioned accident) I could not have damaged the forks in that accident because the crash bar took everything and only the left mirror had a minor scrap along with the clutch pin being broken. But no front end damage noticed.

After putting the bike back, everything felt normal, however two weeks after, when I was at the beach, I mounted the bike and it suddenly felt like it was crooked at the front end. From then on I kept looking at the front end of the bike and thought that the bars are bent. Might be an illusion.

Anyway, just last weekend when my good friend and I took the stock bars off to try and replace it with new bars, we realized the bars were only minimally bent. I didn't get to put new bars on because the clamps didn't fit the 1" indent. (another long story)

Since then I've paid more attention to the front end and realized that when I ride, it LOOKS like the entire fork and tree is about 5 degrees turned to the right.

HOWEVER, whenever I let go of the bars, I seem to go straight.

I've gone about 85 mph without wobble or anything, just this constant annoying feeling that I've had to contend with, and is now near abouts driving me crazy.

I never posted or asked about this in the past 6 months because I always thought that it was just the bars being bent. But now that I'm really looking hard and constant at the front end, it seems everything is pointed just a little to the right, and my left hand is pushed further out than my right hand when going cruising.

Anyway, I ride a 2005 883 custom and have the custom riser. I just bought and dropped off some really cheap bars and cables I got for a steal am intending to put on my bike. I'm going 12 inch apes on the stock risers, hopefully that'll fix the issue.

If anyone has any idea what's going on, please do share here!

 

So are you thinking you twisted the the top of tge triple tree in relation to the forks. I hope you get it sorted out.

 

man I'm not thinking anything right now. Cos I really an clueless what's up! I heard people just loosening and re tightening the trees and solving it while some replaced bushings, and some just jamming it against a curb!

I don't think anything is really messed up because as I said, I rode for two weeks with the bike being perfectly aligned. and suddenly after a 5 hour stop-over at the beach, my bike started feeling that way and hasn't stopped since! bleahhhhhhhkk

 

I straightened out what looked like a really warped front end one time just by loosening the fork brace and triple tree, moving everything back in line, and tightening it up. Try just the fork brace first; it can be the culprit by itself. If even one fork rotates or moves up or down just a little, it'll seem screwed up, but not necessarily look all that bad. Sounds like you have nothing to lose trying that. You can put a lot of pressure on that front wheel laying it down, and that triple tree is pretty tough, never heard of one bending in a laydown without hitting something. Forks can move in their clamps, though, and not that unusual; seen it happen on a few bikes.

 

I would tell ya to get people to look at the front end and see if they see anything strange with it, and if you can't fix it I would take to a pro who knows what they are doing, just my opinion

 

The bars can get twisted when you loosen the riser bolts. As noted above, try loosening up the bolts you messed with in your aborted bar change and just try to realign every thing. That may fix your problem.

 

Have you had a shop look at it yet? I would wonder if there is a slight bend in the frame from the accident.

 

Why are you causing yourself so much grief? This obviously is on your mind (illusion or not). Run her by the local dealer and have them check it out.

 

+1 Take it to someone who knows how to measure it and get the bike re-aligned.

 

What bike do you have? If you have a fairing and it had some damage it could have shifted. My bike did not go down any but I noticed that it looked crooked when I was going down the road. I took the outer fairing off and adjusted the the fairing by taking the braces loose and shifting the inner fairing a little. Being off drove me crazy, Just a thought.