front wheel alingment?????

[nolo263]

is it possible to get the front wheel out of alingment of the bars? i lowered the bike in the front and now im not sure if its me but it seems like my bars are a hair off from the wheel. since i loosened my forks to drop the front could i have moved them so that they are not straight??

 

[nolo263]

ANYONE?

?

 

[DAB]

Yes, it's possible the forks got twisted when you loosened the clamps to slide the forks up. Other than line-of-sight, I don't know a good way to make sure they are aligned, but someone on the board probably knows a better way.

 

[bigjohn141]

do a search i think i saw a thread on this somewhere

 

[nolo263]

i tried the search but nothing came up. i want to make sure its straight. someone help

 

[bigjohn141]

i found the thread, but it was rear alignment

 

[DAB]

I'm guessing you're going to have to position the front wheel so that it is aligned with the rear wheel (i.e. as if you were doing a rear wheel alignment,) clamp it so that it can't move, then loosen the fork clamps and move/twist the handlebars to get them in alignment with the fron wheel (might need to take measurements from the bar-ends to some central point on the bike to make sure they are an equal distance). At that point you can tighten everything back up again.

I'm just trying to figure out how I would do it though. I have had forks off other bikes in the past (to put new seals in etc.) I had the advantage of a "naked" bike without a fairing though, so it was easier to sight down the fork legs and make sure they lined up. Also, when I did it I had the front wheel off which may make it easier as you can lay a straight edge across the fork ends, and grab and twist them if you need to.

Hope this helps (or someone has a better idea.)

 

[shenoyp]

The only way is to take the rear wheel as a point of reference to align the front wheel... there is no other way that I know of!!