Doing restorations we level the bike on the lift and do a 5 foot back look at like its a very cute chick a the beach

small changes - air up the tires - and an eye level to look at and compare - yea a measuring tape is also in play but your eyes are as well

 

Care to share a link on which laser levels you purchased? Might just have to pick up a few. Thanks

 

That's backwards, work from rear to front, align tire in swingarm, then level frame on jack, some weight will be taken off of tires, but leave tires on ground, adjust top link to get rear rotor 90 degrees, use laser on rear rotor to shoot line on the floor, if using one laser, draw line on floor over laser line, turn bars to get front rotor 90 degrees, use laser to shoot line on floor, the two lines should be parallel, if not, loosen front mount and adjust front link, large enough adjustments to front link can throw rear off of 90 degrees, re-check procedure.

 

I just got the inexpensive ones , $19 each off Amazon.

 

According to the FSM this is the first step start with "remove one bolt from the top mount." I imagine that's to let everything else move freely? So I did, used two laser levels one on each rotor and began the procedure. See my last post for more.

 

Good advise, followed all the instructions and had a hard time getting the laser lines to shine far enough and not disperse into a fuzzy fading blotch. Cheap Amazon laser levels. I ended up using a 8 foot piece of aluminum 1.5" channel I had and a couple of machinists steel rules to line up front to rear. I finally got the front to rear in a pretty good line and when I checked both rotors for 90 degrees the rear was way off again! Took quite a bit of top mount adjustment to get both at 90 again. During the front to rear part I had to adjust the lower front engine mount quite a bit, enough so that it pushed the rubber mount to the far right of it's adjustment point. I'm still not confident in the whole process, and having to move the adjusters so far has me second guessing myself if I did it correctly. Gonna go back out tomorrow and re-check everything again until I'm confident. I can't believe the alignment was so far off, makes me thing something is tweaked somewhere.
One thing I did discover is how much wider a Michelin Commander II front tire is than the rear, almost 1 inch!. I'm sure it has something to do with the 3.5" wide RK Excell rims spreading the tires out a tad more than the stock 3" rim, but it was still a shock. I would really like to run a smaller ( narrower) front tire in the future If I can find a suitable one. That front barley fits in the fender.

 

That doesn't sound right.

Try this (it's a bit of a chore, but what else you gonna do?): Disconnect both the top and the front stabilizers. Remove the tank. take a ratchet strap and run it over the backbone and under the motor. Tighten it up until it is carrying the weight of the motor. Jack up the bike so the rear wheel is off the ground. This next part is a bit of a gut check, depending on how much you trust your jack, but grab the front of the motor (more or less where the front stabilizer mount is) and give it a few shakes. The idea is to get the donuts to settle in to their "happy place".

When I installed the Glide Pro system, I had the exact same problem you described. Called Jake, and he recommended the above procedure. Worked like a charm.

 

Fortunately tank is already off so I think Ill give that a try. Your right about it sounding like a " gut check", I'd prefer to have a set of "safety" hands standing buy. thanks!

 

The FSM plainly states the front is wider that the rear... then basically leaves you in the dark about how to deal with that. Did you replace the front motor mount also? Are you sure you got the swing arm isolator blocks indexed so the notch is correctly positioned on the pins of the rear floorboard mounts?

1 - Trust me, nothing you did would have thrown the frame alignment off much at all from the factory setting. But definitely a good idea to check/adjust after rear fork bearings. Going over one that's just been built and/or wrecked is a different story altogether. So, start over. Put the adjusters back to the lengths they were, as best you can guess.

2 - If the rear wheel is not perfectly aligned with the swing arm pivot axle, you'll be forever and get nowhere. That has to be perfect before you start anything else.

3 - You cannot trust a level or laser reading off the front disc. If you set the level so it's zero'd vertical, move the bars 1/8 inch, the bubble changes. So level the frame underneath near the main cross member, left to right then check at the rear disc for the top link adjust.

4 - You're gonna have to arrange some way to hold the bike up level left to right and have the ability to turn the handle bars slightly plus actually see and touch both sides of both tires. A jack or a board and 2 cinder blocks... something. You will never be able to do a frame alignment with the front wheel in a clamp.

Watch this video (it's not mine). You'll then understand why you can't use a wheel clamp, how terrible the FSM is at explaining how to do it all and that a 15' piece of mason twine or fishing line is all you need to do the front adjuster alignment to get both wheels running true. Straight edges on a Tour model with wider front tire just don't work for me.


String is quick and easy but I couldn't find the exact video I wanted that shows a guy actually doing it on your model. Here's some pics that'll give you some ideas. Just remember on yours - string or straight edge must touch 4 points on the front tire regardless and if using string rather than straight edges, the string mus contact 2 points on the rear (back of tire)

IENATSCH TUESDAY: How to Align Your Motorcycle Wheels with "String" | Cycle World

 

DON"T get these Amazon cheapies. The laser line is crappy and only shines for a foot or so and spreads all over.