[jakew129]

Re: Rocking the Forks

Im usually awesome at visualizing things, but for some reason i cant visualize what u mean by rocking the piece across the tubes....up down, left right, back forth, what?....cause the way im thinkin u could do this to even completely straight forks??

 

[fog]

Re: Rocking the Forks

Think about the forks being parallel to each other. The three inch plate would lay across them in contact all along two 3" lines and the plate woul be solid or not rock.

Now make the forks not parallel.(tweaked) Now the plate can only be in contact with 1 fork along the 3" line the other fork will be only in point contact. Untill you push it down on that side (rock it) which will make the otherside come up. Like a 4 legged chair with a short leg.

It rocks, therefore Rocker is a good discriptive word

FOG

 

[jakew129]

Re: Rocking the Forks

ok i gotcha...im gonna try this, cause i dont know if u remember but i dropped my bike's forks on the floor while they were resting on a 6x6 while installing my rear tire, before i installed the front one so maybe this is causeing some headshake up front?

 

[fog]

Re: Rocking the Forks

Nope the headshake is the rear tire out of line. Do the string thing.

FOG

 

[Nick D]

Re: Rocking the Forks

I haven't done this on my EX yet, but I just wanted to say thanks. I remembered you talking about this on EX500Riders. After my buddy laid down his Harley he was sure the front end was bent beyond repair. I convinced him to just loosen everything up and rotate it back, matching the alignment of the tubes, and now it's great. So, thanks!

 

[jakew129]

Re: Rocking the Forks

did the string thing...and not sure if i did anything...probably cause i didnt do it right

 

[Nick D]

Re: Rocking the Forks

did the string thing...and not sure if i did anything...probably cause i didnt do it right

Well, if there's part of it that's unclear, ask away. Someone will help you out. Be sure you do it on the center stand, the side stand is no good. I found out from experience before I was told .

 

[Bezubub]

How much chrome should be sticking out @ the triple tree? I set mine up at the least amount of chrome possible but still allowing the first triple clamp to bite meat (where the tubes stop being hollow looking through them.) Is there any advantage/disadvantage to the setup I have? I know I still have some room to come out before the recess machined in the ends bottoms out of the top of the forks... Also Fog (been on the forums for about 2 weeks; long as Ive owned the bike) mentions loosening the axle bolts and I'm curious the logic (I know hes got his head screwed on straight) anything being loosened beside the first two triple clamps being loosened. I did follow the directions minus the axle bolt and feel that I've really aided in bringing the front in back, its really mitigated any shake I felt in the front end and (did it to eliminate a nasty shake at all speeds when I took both hands off the grips) just have a little shimmy occasionally.... Sorry I realize thats like 10 questions with just one shiny bow. Hope its not too scatterbrained to the normal people out there.

 

[Guest]

I was told that by having more chrome sticking out of the triple clamps (i.e. the forks pushed down more) the bike will be lower and handling will be mildly improved. You're actually raising your center of gravity which will probably adversely affect your handling.

And I'm not sure why you loosen the axle bolt.

 

[fog]

You loosen the axel bolt along with all the other bolts that pinch the fork, to affect twisting the forks back into alignment (IE rocking the forks). But then your supposed to tighten them again too. ninny.

FOG

 

[gospeed81]

thanks FOG, that's awesome

finally got some free time now that it's spring break, and will hopefully be getting my bike back into shape

this is step one, hopefully forks aren't bent

 

[Jerronnimmo]

yeah, I gotta do the same for break. I checked the forks real quick, and they're off. hopefully it's just alignment. I have to go get my breaker bar and torque wrench from my bro's house though, first. I'm confused, though. on 94+ models, what exactly is the axle pinch bolt? I got the axle nut/bolt, and 4 tree pinch bolts, and the top nut...but I didn't really see anything else that tightens on the forks.
also, just how much should you prop the front wheel up? I was able to just slip a 1x3 under the front wheel to put the rear wheel solid on the ground. do I need a higher prop when i really do the alignment?

any wisdom?

 

[fog]

You got it, just a name diffrence. Just be sure the axel is not tight to allow the fork sliders to move.

FOG

 

[tokomiko]

Just wondering on the up and down movement on the forks that was mentioned earlier here.

I have the wheel about 1'' off the ground and as soon as I loosened all the pinch bolts the wheel slid down and touched the ground. So the further down they are, and still inside the triple clamp my handling will be worse as the front will be raised? Should I push the forks all the way up inside the triple clamp? Pretty sure they were up as far as they would go before I loosened the pinch bolts, as I can see the dust line of where they used to be.
---------------
My bike handled fine, but you could tell when you were going straight the bars were tweaked a little to the right. Then with the steel plate over the fork tubes there was a slight rocking.

 

[Tinker1980]

I spent the afternoon today removing the front forks, and having them straightened... turns out the tubes were nearly straight to begin with, and I confirmed they were good after the shop straightened them by rolling them on some glass. Put the bike back together, and lo and behold, I've got the same problem I had before, handlebars 5 degrees to the right when wheel is straight, only now I have a sore back to go with it.

I loosened every one of the pinch bolts, the axle and it's pinch bolt, and could turn the tubes in the trees, loosened the large chrome bolt in the top of the tree, and tried to twist the handlebars while holding the front wheel in between my knees (Just like my bicycle days) and I couldn't get the slightest bit of budge. Nothing moves. What am I forgetting?

 

[Tinker1980]

Nobody knows, huh?

 

[fog]

Bent handle bar.

FOG

 

[Tinker1980]

I finally got it straight. Turns out I couldn't generate enough force holding the wheel between my legs. So I loosened everything up again, braced the front wheel against the outside wall of the garage, and did my level best to break the clip ons off the bike. Got a loud pop from the fender and it's straight.

 

[drifter3794]

I did this today, took fifteen minutes, and worked pretty well. Its still of a degree or two so I'll have to do it again. But overall very impressed with the results.

 

[hooligan]

Is there a reason this won't work for upside down forks? My buddy bought a crashed R1 and he wants to check alignment.