I remember an old thread on this...

Just got new tires, and now the front steering alignment is a tiny tiny bit off..... (handlebars point slightly right while the bike is going straight)

If I remember correctly, you can adjust the rear wheel and correct this right?????

Did the morons at the dealer line up your chain adjustment marks left to right?

That are close... appear to be maybe a milimeter off...

I can adjust those..

Get yourself a 6' level and align the wheels that way. Never trust the chain adjusters. The level methos IS A PAIN IN THE ASS ! But, you will know that the wheels are in correct alignment.
Howie

Hey Nik, I had the same problem. I couldn't figure it out, so I took it to the shop :oops: $75 later he says he measured everything as far as the frame goes and all, and everything is right on. He rode it, then he had a salesman ride it who is a former racer. Both of them took time to talk to me about road camber, and riding posture. Basically, they told me I was seeing things. I know I'm not. I have settled on it being the front cowl or something similar giving it the appearance of my bars turned slightly right.

I don't know if this helps, but...

I thought that my forks were misaligned or something because it appeared that my handlebars pointed towards the right. I finally noticed that the clutch master cylinder is larger than the front brake master cylinder.

After this discovery, the 'optical illusion' went away :wink:

Whenever mine appears to be steering to the right, I check the chain adjustment.

I adjust things so that the teeth of the sprocket run exactly down the middle of the chain and NEVER adjust according to the adjustment marks.

Once those teeth are exactly in the middle of the chain, the bike no longer seems to be steering to the right.

Um, do you guys know if there's supposed to be a hyphen between "anal" and "retentive...?"

G'day from Down Under

I've made myself a laser alignment rig using a laser pointer and have written up how to build it and use it - only takes 20 minutes to do a really accurate alignment. Is there any way of posting a 350kb Adobe article on this site?

If not, go to http://www.superblackbird.co.uk/waligntool.htm

Hope it's of some help

Cheer

Geoff

There is a lot of good thought in this idea.

are a lot of people noticing that their triple tree (or steering) seems to point to the right? - like 1-3 degrees? - when the bike goes in a straight line? just recently i've noticed this and it's driving me nuts, wondering if there is something wrong with the bike.

checked the chain
the bike rides in a straight line
no unusual tire wear (off center)

could it be that i have a 1.10 spring on the left and a 1.0 spring on the right?

not being anal, but every time i look down and notice it i think to myself wtf!

OK, it sounds barbaric, but it works.

Remove front fender.

Determine which way the bars need to move.

Go to a solid item like a telephone pole or wall, place correct side of front tire against it, line it up and whack it against pole by turning handlebars hard.

Test ride and check triple tree/ handlebar allignment.

It takes a couple times to get it right but you can put it anywhere you want it.

Don't be alarmed, you're not bending the fork tubes. What you're doing is alligning the triple tree.

The first time I wrecked off-road with my XR I got back on and freaked because my handlebars were WAAYY off. This fixed it.

When I'm going in a straight line, I can turn my front wheel any way I want to align the handlebars, and still go straight. :cool: Oh, I forgot, the front wheel is in the air. :roll:

i used to do this to my mountain bike after i crashed it and it worked.

but i haven't crashed my bird :???: and my bird costs more than my mountain bike :shock:

Please don't go whacking your front tire against anything. :roll: Nearly every XX I've sat on has the front cowl/fairing biased to the left which gives the illusion of the bars turned to the right. As time and miles go by the fairing seems to settle more to the left side. The digital dash models amplify this because the speedo window is sized differently then the gas guage/odometer window and the placement difference of the left and right reservoirs.
I just helped empty a pony keg. Does that sound right? :???:

To make it all better... and if you just can't stand it any more...take the front fairing apart and adjust it! If I see you whacking your tire against some tree, I will stop and thump you in the head. :nono:

G2

lol!!! :pointup:

26k miles i bet my front fairing is pointing the wrong direction. soon, i will be going to the dealer to have the fork oil changed and steering head bearings changed, so he will dive into the optical problem :grin:

Although I've never had a problem with my rear wheel alignment, this seems to be the best procedure I've read so far to ensure the alignment of the rear wheel. I say the best not because it's the most accurate, but because it's a down and dirty simple procedure that is relatively accurate (or accurate enough for me).

Good recommendation! I'll try it the next time I mount my wheel.

Joe