Topic: fenders and alignment

[johnyvilla]

Could a slightly bent fender, cause enough twist in front forks, to cause handlebars to cock one way or the other?

My 750k has just such a cock to the right, (less than an inch) of the handle bars, even after new fork tubes were installed. A bent frame or 3t should not twist the tubes in such a way that handlebars would skew left or right. What do you guys think? 

[Johnie]

Are you sure the bars are not tweaked?

[johnyvilla]

New bars.

I should add, the bike does not veer noticeably with my hands off the handlebars.

[vance]

i had a similar situation after my bike flew off my trailer during a car accident. it turned out to be a combination of bent upper fork tubes but mostly the steering stem (lower triple) was twisted. you can try taking that fender off and loosening the front end, push the wheel the way you want it to go and tighten back up. if that doesn't fix it drop the front wheel and lower the forks a little so they are only mounted in the lower triple tree. you should be able to look from the side of the bike and see if one fork is in front of the other down be where the axle would be. also pull the forks out and hold a straightedge to the upper tubes and rotate them. you'll see if there is a bend fairly easily.

[johnyvilla]

Good idea.

Thanks for the input.

[MCRider]

Could a slightly bent fender, cause enough twist in front forks, to cause handlebars to cock one way or the other?

My 750k has just such a cock to the right, (less than an inch) of the handle bars, even after new fork tubes were installed. A bent frame or 3t should not twist the tubes in such a way that handlebars would skew left or right. What do you guys think?

As mentioned, a tweaked lower tree will cause what you see. And is very common as tweaks go.

[johnyvilla]

I guess I assumed since I already tried two 3T's with the same results that they were not the culprit. They could both be bent I guess.