Lumor_uk Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 My bike was a cat c though I suspect something isn't right. I was looking for paint chips scratches when looking at it. On closer inspection there seems to have been an impact to one of the forks, light small dents 1mm big but obvious enough I'm kicking myself.Now when doing free handed yesterday I had to lean heavily to the left to get the bike to go straight. Do all bikes go straight with no hands? The big exhaust on the right won't mean I have to counter balance that? I don't notice anything while riding with my hands on the bars.Now would some forks off ebay fix it or is the yolk likely to need replacing too? Where can I take the bike to see if it's straight, how much is it to get a bike straightened? Quote
megawatt Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 Why do you think your forks are bent ? Lift front end off the ground, remove front wheel and mudguard, with someone holding handlebars and preload and damping minimised, push each fork upwards and see if it returns smoothly. If not contact Motoliner, they are the best people for straightening. There may be nothing wrong with it! Quote
mealexme Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 before you do anything, I would check if your bike is tracking straight like this http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/howto ... le_wheels/then decide what to do. It may have been that you were on a strange road, or the bike has always been like that but you have never noticed it before. Although I dont believe I have to lean on mine when riding with no hands. I do know that at 55mph it vibrates though, so muc it tries to throw me off with no hands, but I dont notice it with hands so it doesnt bother me and I just live with it Quote
megawatt Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 Could be that the steering is twisted. Just loosen the top yoke and mudguard clamp bolts, bounce the front end and it should come good. Then retighten. No, having a 4 into 1 will not affect the balance or handling. Quote
Stu Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 It could be anything causing it to go to one side of the road! Road camber, head bearings, front tyre worn Quote
Lumor_uk Posted December 23, 2012 Author Posted December 23, 2012 Wasn't a brilliant road, pot holes everywhere but don't want to do it on a main road with traffic up my back side in case I come off Haven't tried braking harshly yet because of the wet roads.Will take a look at these points above tomorrow at work. Cheers.p.s. it has 900 miles on the clock, tyres are like new was registered march, cat c in june sold august, bought by me December. Quote
megawatt Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 Don't take it to a dealer for fixing, untill you know what's wrong with it. They will happily take lots of miney off you. If you can get it down to my place, I will sort it for you? Quote
Lumor_uk Posted December 23, 2012 Author Posted December 23, 2012 other side of london? haha i think a dealer would be cheaper Quote
Tango Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 Could be that the steering is twisted. Just loosen the top yoke and mudguard clamp bolts, bounce the front end and it should come good. Then retighten. No, having a 4 into 1 will not affect the balance or handling. BonnieBird's daughters CG125 had the forks slightly twisted in the yokes when she dropped it at low speed. As Megawatt says, loosen the clamp bolts on the yokes and bounce the front end a few times. Then as Alex says check the wheel alignment. Chances are it is just this...... Quote
bex Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 you were going no handed and it was leaning to the left, erm.....thats cos of the road camber, 1mm pitted marks on your forks are most probably stone chips, you can take the advice to see if they are twisted but i would say its as simple as, put ya hands on the bars and ride properly lmao Quote
mealexme Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 you were going no handed and it was leaning to the left, erm.....thats cos of the road camber, 1mm pitted marks on your forks are most probably stone chips, you can take the advice to see if they are twisted but i would say its as simple as, put ya hands on the bars and ride properly lmao I was thinking that, but if you read again it says "had to lean to the left" ie the bike is leaning to the right/tracking right Quote
Lumor_uk Posted December 23, 2012 Author Posted December 23, 2012 not sure what I even mean. What I did was shift my ass over to the left side of the bike. At which point I gave up trying to make it go straight. Quote
bex Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 or it just felt like that, i know on the few times that i had to let go of the bars i had to lean to the left. its hard to explain, but due to the profile of tyres and the angle of the road camber you do still feel like your leaning to the left, mind tripping i know but yeah, but as i also said, to put your mind at rest follow given instructions to check. Quote
Lumor_uk Posted December 23, 2012 Author Posted December 23, 2012 You reckon? don't know, never used a dealer. wouldn't for this either. Quote
Joeman Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 is the rear wheel aligned correctly? Most bikes have adjustment marks on the rear swing arm.. if yours does, check to see that the rear wheel lines up with the same marks on each side.. Quote
Roadtorque Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 (edited) My bike was a cat c though I suspect something isn't right. I was looking for paint chips scratches when looking at it. On closer inspection there seems to have been an impact to one of the forks, light small dents 1mm big but obvious enough I'm kicking myself.Now when doing free handed yesterday I had to lean heavily to the left to get the bike to go straight. Do all bikes go straight with no hands? The big exhaust on the right won't mean I have to counter balance that? I don't notice anything while riding with my hands on the bars.Now would some forks off ebay fix it or is the yolk likely to need replacing too? Where can I take the bike to see if it's straight, how much is it to get a bike straightened? In a word, No,, like yours they will pull to the left due to the road camber, the greater the camber the greater the pull,, only on a flat surface will a bike go straight & it might even drift a bit on that, You don't have to counter balance anything on the bike,, you didn't notice anything wrong with your hands on the bars because that's were your hands are supposed to be,, OK so you've got a dent or two, so have a lot of other bikes, if you listen to all the gloom & doom of this lot on here,, you'll spend pots of money chasing your tail trying to fix what ain't broken,,A cat C write off means a bike can be repaired from light damage, but after repair the bike has to undergo a full inspection mot to certify it as roadworthy,,, Edited December 23, 2012 by Roadtorque Quote
Tango Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 In a word, No,, like yours they will pull to the left due to the road camber, the greater the camber the greater the pull,, only on a flat surface will a bike go straight & it might even drift a bit on that, You don't have to counter balance anything on the bike,, you didn't notice anything wrong with your hands on the bars because that's were your hands are supposed to be,, OK so you've got a dent or two, so have a lot of other bikes, if you listen to all the gloom & doom of this lot on here,, you'll spend pots of money chasing your tail trying to fix what ain't broken But I would certainly check wheel alignment and slacken the fork yokes and retighten them. Wheel alignment is something you should be checking regularly when adjusting the chain..... Quote
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