Question about Alignment
Tourer
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 302
Likes: 8
From: Huddersfield. U.K.
This could be due to the camber in the road (the way it is raised in the middle). I would expect if you drive on the right side, a bike will tend to steer to the right with the bars straight trying to go down the hill, so you probably have to steer to the left to keep going straight.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,699
Likes: 2
From: Deltona, FL
Could be a couple of things. Depending mostly on bars and risers. The stock dampers for the risers are a soft compound of rubber. Because of this they can allow the risers to "tweak" a bit. To find if this is the cause, go out and turn your bars past the fork stop to see if they center back up. If they do, you can replace the dampers with polyurethane ones that are stiffer but still reduce vibes.
Another factor can be if your handlebar clamp is not a single piece. If you essentially have two separate risers, they can be twisted just enough to where the bars are at an angle on the top triple tree instead of straight across.
On my Fat Bob with the 6" pull back risers (two separate risers, no solid clamp) I have the same problem. I looked at it, loosened, adjusted, tightened, overtorqued, anything I could think of to figure it out and then I realized that when I was picking the bike up off the kickstand I was twisting the bars to the right. They were off-centered to the right as well. So, I put them on the left fork stop and tweaked them a bit and sure enough they straightened right out. Now I lift the bike before I rotate the forks to avoid the problem until I feel like changing the riser dampers.
Another factor can be if your handlebar clamp is not a single piece. If you essentially have two separate risers, they can be twisted just enough to where the bars are at an angle on the top triple tree instead of straight across.
On my Fat Bob with the 6" pull back risers (two separate risers, no solid clamp) I have the same problem. I looked at it, loosened, adjusted, tightened, overtorqued, anything I could think of to figure it out and then I realized that when I was picking the bike up off the kickstand I was twisting the bars to the right. They were off-centered to the right as well. So, I put them on the left fork stop and tweaked them a bit and sure enough they straightened right out. Now I lift the bike before I rotate the forks to avoid the problem until I feel like changing the riser dampers.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
