I had an encounter withsome buzzards yesterday and ended up riding down the side of a ditch at 60 or so. She was bucking a little at first until I evened out the throttle which straightened it out and allowed me to ride back on the road. Luckily the ditch was not steep (obviously) and pretty smooth (deep grass), and I didn't hit anything. but I got the feeling afterward that my front end was looser than it should be. What kind of damage could have been done, and what should I check? I don't think the handling change is my imagination (though it was awild ride), and there was oil residue/film on the forks afterward. There were no hard bumps, but I imagine the forks were doing more severe work than intended while skating along the roadside. Thanks for any help.

 

Don't the buzzards know they're supposed to wait for you to be dead?!?!?
Seriouisly, is the oil/residue on the top part of the forks(above the seal), or the bottom? If it's below, could be you blew a seal.

 

Yeah, thosedang birds are getting impatient. The oil was above the seals on the fork, it just seemed more than usual. But then, I could be talking myself into it. I'm gonna have a wrench look at it to see if anything looks out of order and to check the fallaway. There's probably nothing hurt but my brain. Like Leon from the Bud commercial "I pulled myself out of the game...on that last play Iinjured my psyche"

 

Freaking impatient carion...
I have, on a couple occasions, had a slight film of oil above the seal too. Nothing I could find wrong, though. Do the forks have the same feel on compression? Any bottoming out? If not, it may be "psyco-sematic"(all in your head.) But when dealing with steering, it's better to be safe,( and possibly paranoid,) than sorry. IMHO