How bent is a bent fork?

[aowens2]

I had a ~30~ mph lowside at RA, and the bike went into the grass, on the right side, stood up sideways and sat back down on the left side then came to a stop. Apart from a few scuffs and a broken brake lever everything is good.

But...I fear my forks may be bent. After I got it home I pulled my track fairings off and way eyeballing it. Then went for a low speed cruise down the street and back. When the bike is going straight, the handlebars seem to be ever so slightly turned to the right. I bought the bike used and has been down before, so this very well could be pre-existing, what can I do, soon, and cheap? Thanks in advance.

By the way...2004 Suzuki GSX-R600

 

[xlink]

when your fork seals leak.

 

[aowens2]

Ok, thats a negative on the leakage. Just hoping to only way to tell isn't hauling ass to see if you get shake and thrown off or having it inspected, which I am sure isn't cheap. I have a GPR V4 steering damper that should "help".

 

[mugenej8power]

For peace of mind I would get someone to check them over just to make sure.

 

[LesPow]

e-bay

 

[yeeker]

Triples!

Very often the triple-clamps bend before the forks. In fact, a lot of times nothing gets bent, just misaligned. Have you tried loosening the triples and pushing on the clip-ons to "bounce" the front end around. This can realign the front end sometimes.

 

[Lenny ZX9R]

yeeker;57410 wrote: Very often the triple-clamps bend before the forks. In fact, a lot of times nothing gets bent, just misaligned. Have you tried loosening the triples and pushing on the clip-ons to "bounce" the front end around. This can realign the front end sometimes.

I agree that your forks are probably misaligned. We had a guy at NJMP that had the same problem.
Possible and most likely solution:

1. Lift the bike with a front lift. The kind that you have to put under the triple tree.
2. Loosen the axle.
3. Loosen the side that LOOKS like its out of alignment DO NOT LOOSEN THE OTHER SIDE!
4. Take the bike off the front stand and bounce it. Put the bike back on the front stand and check the alignment again. If its not aligned, loosen up the other side a little and check again.

 

[murf]

Grab a dial indicator and a magnetic base. Place the dial against the lower portion of the fork leg, and rotate the fork leg 360degrees. Take note of the runout.

The number that i got from my previous suspension builder, and engineer, is 0.010" max runout. Maybe a little more if your fork slider bushings are known to be worn.

 

[Motofun352]

This can be time consuming, but if you're really concerned, I would pull the forks, disassemble the sliders and check for runnout. A cheap way to do this is roll the sliders on a piece of plate glass. If they go whomp....whomp...whomp they're bent. Use a feeler gauge under the "arch" to measure how much (10 mills seems to be too much IMHO, I would try for 4 mills , or less). Sliders can be straightened using a hydraulic press and 3 half moon forms to hold the sliders. I've made the forms from old pieces of 4X4 to fit various slider diameters. This all takes some time and care but it can be done. Don't try to straighten out the the sliders all at once, rather do it in steps and measure on the glass in between.

By the way, upside down sliders are so much stronger than the regular ones that I have never seen ones that are tweaked....if they go they are usually very obviously ben, always a first time though...

 

[steve p]

0.010 = 10 thou not mills. 0.010 is WAY less than 10 mills

 

[Kmac]

steve p;57435 wrote: 0.010 = 10 thou not mills. 0.010 is WAY less than 10 mills

I don't know where you got that at, but .010" = 10/1000's of an inch = 10 thou = 10 mils.

 

[Motofun352]

steve p;57435 wrote: 0.010 = 10 thou not mills. 0.010 is WAY less than 10 mills

A "mil" is an older term for a .001" (or one thousandth of an inch), therefore 10 mils= .010" . Since I'm an old engineer I'm used to mils instead of these new fangled millimeters

 

[JRA]

I've had the same thing more than once. It's almost certainly just gotten twisted in the triples. I've always just taken my front end apart and reassembled it. It's worked fine every time for me.

 

[Fencer]

you are in GA.
send them or take them to CMD computrac. They can measure everything and tell you if you are ok or not.

 

[aowens2]

Contacted computrack, results will play out after the holiday. Thanks for the advice to all. If it dosen't look right after the in garage attempts, we will see what happens.

 

[Fatboy]

Just ride it