Bent Front Forks on a Fatboy
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Stage I
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: Winchester, Va
Bent Front Forks on a Fatboy
Had my first near death experience today when a cager in a truck pulling
a cattle carrier cut me off and jammed his breaks...Fortunately the carrier had a low bumper and I had enough distance to slow down to a minor impact
and kept the bike up... Nothing else was damaged(including me) but my front forks, which were bent back about 1/2"...The bike is ridable, there is no wobble and no fork oil leakage...My question is what is the weak spot that is going to be bent???
a cattle carrier cut me off and jammed his breaks...Fortunately the carrier had a low bumper and I had enough distance to slow down to a minor impact
and kept the bike up... Nothing else was damaged(including me) but my front forks, which were bent back about 1/2"...The bike is ridable, there is no wobble and no fork oil leakage...My question is what is the weak spot that is going to be bent???
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2007
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A really long time ago, in high school, I bent a set of upper tubes in an accident. My high school auto-shop bent them back straight with a press. Everything worked fine, until I destroyed the motor on that bike.
These days, you can find some used tubes on fleabay. I ma not sure I would ant to risk having a weak spot.
These days, you can find some used tubes on fleabay. I ma not sure I would ant to risk having a weak spot.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 157,456
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From: Michigan 15 Minutes East Of Hell
A diagnosis over the internet is pretty difficult :>) ... but given past experience I'd be confident in saying that you've bent the fork tubes ... some will tell you to straighten them and put 'em back on ... some would tell you that's a no no ... I seen it done both ways and each worked out ... as far as riding it, you'll encounter less directional stability, your rake angle has been decreased ( less positive caster condition in a car ) I would suggest to err on the side of caution ... Hope this helps.
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Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2010
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bent tubes
I hit a deer a few years ago on my FXWG. I rode it a couple of years that way after replacing the rim and didn't really notice much difference. Went to rebuild the front end and found the tubes didn't roll so pretty good. Took them to a Race Tech dealer and they straitened them out perfect and put their emulator valve in the same time. That's an awesome upgrade if you have them apart.