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Posted about this in another thread, but my 2000 FXDWG was struck from the front in a parking lot hit and run. The impact twisted the forks such that the wheel is about 20-30 degrees from straight. Strangely the bike was not knocked over, but was pushed about a foot or so judging from scrape marks on the pavement made by the kickstand and front wheel. Dealer did the insurance estimate, the repair # came in well over the book value of the bike so insurance totaled it. I bought the bike back since part of the estimate included a bent frame, and I'm not so sure it is. I don't see how pushing the bike, even hard enough to twist the forks in the triple tree, could damage the frame, and I found no obvious evidence of it, i.e. no cracked welds, flaking paint, scuffs, etc. The insurance adjuster said the Harley mech was 100% certain the frame was bent. How could he tell? The bike was not disassembled so far as I can tell, it was all an eyeball inspection. There is a dent in the gas tank, but it appears to me the impact was made by the corner of the detachable windshield bracket, an after-market add-on, not the triple tree. But that's irrelevant at this point. Does anyone know of any easy method, without pulling all the components off it, to determine whether the frame is in fact bent? Thanks.
Here's some photos, from the day of the incident and in the shop. It appears to me that the bike was hit pretty much straight on from the front, probably by an SUV or pickup backing out from the facing space, thinking my space was empty. Just a guess, since bike has a relatively small and low profile. Looks like the impact was hard enough, and high enough, to drive the front wheel into the ground judging from the scrapes on the rim and the pavement scrapes from wheel and kickstand. The wheel itself appears relatively intact, no obvious cracks, bends or breaks other than the scrapes. Need to pull it and see if it balances on my handy-dandy home balancer. Tire holds air just fine. Frame looks OK to me as well, no obvious damage to my untrained eye.
If your bike was a bagger the crash bar would be mounted under the neck on a "tab" of sorts. If that spot is tweaked, cracked, bent etc....Harley says bent frame every time
Ask the Harley Tech that helped with the estimate. But it is not hard to twist the neck in a collision. Now your situation is odd for sure, especially the bike never hitting the ground, but if someone pushed it hard enough to twist the forks, you could have tweaked the neck. There are gauges that you can install in the neck, big long rod that runs to the back of the bike. once you center it in the steering neck, easy to measure the back of the frame to see if it is still centered. A decent Independent shop might be able to help you determine if the frame is twisted. Good luck.
Thanks for the replies. I had checked with a local indie about inspecting the damage, but first I think I'm going to pull the wheel to closely check for damage and see if it balances out. The forks are rebounding just fine and haven't lost any fluid, and I see no obvious evidence of damage to the frame. If the wheel's good I'm going to straighten the forks and take the bike for a careful little test ride to see if it handles the way it did before. Truth is, I'm the third owner of this bike. I've been riding it 14 years now without a problem, but I may have been riding the whole time with a bent frame. i don't know what the prior owners did to the bike, maybe they dropped it and bent the frame. I've always done the work on it, this is the first time the dealer's seen it, they may have assumed that any frame bend was the result of the impact. And maybe they're right, but I can't see it. I can tell you that over the years I've changed a few tires and the main drive gear and everything always lined up properly. But if everything checks out on the wheel etc. we'll see how the test ride goes.
I would take it to a shop that specializes in repairing motorcycle frames and alignments. They have jigs and laser measuring tools they can hook it up to. It would probably cost around $2-300 for them to hook it up to their devices and analyze it. Another $500 or so to straighten if it is bent. That way you'll know 100% certain you're not riding around and risking your life on a bent bike.
I did this earlier this year. Had the frame straighten and everything aligned. The bike now handles better than it ever did.
Yup, if you get the frame checked and straightened, it'll likely "out-handle" the bikes from the factory.
We all know the new bikes made tomorrow have sloppy specs for frame alignment.
Bought the bike back for the insurance co and am disassembling the front end. Right fork dropped out pretty cleanly but I had to hammer the hell out of the left to force it out. Still find no evidence of frame damage, I spoke to an indie mech at a local shop who gave me some tips on checking for true, will run those checks and see where it lands.
I put the wheel on my balancer and it clearly has some side runout but not as severe as I would have expected. The balance is still spot-on, the wheel is round, spins freely and comes to a complete stop on its own with no return. I called a wheel shop which indicated it may be repairable, they'll take a look at it. Anyone ever have, and been comfortable with, a motorcycle front wheel being repaired rather than replaced? The wheel is a custom wheel, pretty expensive and rare, no longer made. I can't find one anywhere. Would like to keep it if it is repairable. Thanks.
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Bent frame?
