Help, please

[OB_Metallibusa]

I'm new at posting but I have been reading this board for a while. Please be gentle. I have a 2000 red/gray busa and tonight I pulled over on the the side of the road in the grass and hit a big fire ant mound. I guess I was going a little too fast and I dropped the bike. I may have been doing 5mph. The bike is merely scuffed but when I got back on it the steering felt funny. It is not off by much just slightly different. Nothing looks bent. You know when you used to wreck your bicycle and the handle bars would be a little off? You could fix it by holding the front tire with your knees and torqueing the handle bar one way or the other. That's what it feels like needs to be done. Before I take it to my local service center I thought I would ask you all what to do, if anything. Thanks for any assistance.

 

[OB_WARBIRD]

We used to loosen the top and bottom triple tree clamp bolts and shake the front end around a little, checking to see when it lined back up. Then we would torque the bolts to recomended specs. Ask JC and Motor though, I dont know if that still holds true.

 

[OB_Ripper^]

What you did was you twisted the forks slightly. A quick way to correct this is to drive the bike in a straight ahead position and note which side the handlebars go towards. Have someone sit in the bike holding it firmly against the steering stop. If for example the steering was offset to the right in the straight ahead position have your assistant turn the bars to the right. Give the front wheel a good solid boot at the top of the wheel just in front of the fender. Take the bike for a ride and note any differences. You may have have to do it a few times to get it right on. This looks crude but it works.

 

[Guest]

Giving a 190mph bike a kick to fix a steering anomaly doesn't seem like a cool idea to me.

If you can't isolate a specific problem yourself then get a proper wrench to look at it.

 

[Guest]

5 mph? Geez, sounds like it was loose when you got it.

 

[Guest]

I was right behind him when it happened. He was doing abot 5mph when the front wheel suddenly turned to the right. The bike fell over on it's left side and slid in the grass for a few feet. Metallibusa came off the leftside high and slid in the road for just a few feet. It looks as though the left bar end dug into the dirt a little bit. Now, when the handle bars are straight, the wheel looks like it is turned to the left a little. So to drive straight, the handle bars are turned to the right slightly.
Anyway, the bike received to permanent scratches on the paint, just a few on the mirror and that black cover by your left foot.

Metallibusa also only received some non-permanent scratches.