here is the situation. bike was hit in parking lot by car. dragged and pushed bike about 12" on concrete. damaged kickstand, but never fell off stand. upon riding home discovered that bars are not straight with front tire (about 10-15 degrees canted to the right). impact with car was at the front tire.

is my only possibility that the forks are bent now? i have not had enough time to go and do a thorough inspection, but these are my findings for now. to my knowledge the forks are the only things that connect both of the clamps and ultimately up the bars. i know that i have to replace my kickstand now - i really was hoping to not have to do a front end as well

 

You got any info on the driver that hit your bike?

 

2 posibilities

The forks are bent

or

The Forks are twisted in the tripple tree.

===================================

To straighten out twisted forks,

1) Put bike on rear stand
2) use a floor jack under the engine to lift front end of bike up or
2b) use rope or straps to lift the front end of the bike up by the top triple tree.
3) loosen the bolts of the middle triple clamp and the the pich bolts at the forks.
4) loosen the front wheel main bolt
5) Get someone to hold front wheel
6) grab the handle bars and turn them till they line up 90 degrees with your front tire.
7) Tighten everything back up

You are done.


You can also check for bent forks by removing the front wheel and loosening all the pinch bolts on the triple tree. Then

1) grab each fork and turn them in place. You should be able to turn each one with the same amount of effort. If it sticks or gets hard to turn then they are bend.

OR

2) pull the fork right off the bike and roll it on a flat surface to see if its bent.



Good luck

 

thank you so much for the help! loosened the clamps, straightened the forks out in the trees, locked everything back down - alakazam - we are riding again!

also took bent kickstand off and laid it on the gas stove for a few minutes and beat it into submission. it is "straighter" but i will still replace it as i come across a new one.

thanks again!

 

I think I saw a stand for sale on eBay