Front end alignment

[Bbennett]

I applied the front brake on a mud patch and had a 1/8 MPH drop of the V11 to the right. No damage as the entire bike seemed to fall on the right hand bar end and the cylinder guard. Trouble is now I feel like the steering head/triple clamp is ever so slightly rotated to the right. That old feeling I used to get after dropping a dirt bike....

 

My question is how best to fix? I have attached an image of the stock front end. It happens to be of the left side of the bike (driver's perspective) even though my problem is the bike is easier to turn to the right. I have labelled 3 key areas (A,B and C on image) of the bike in case someone wishes to refer to these various places on the bike where the forks are held and or the clip-ons attach.

 

Thanks

[Guest Nogbad]

Put the bike up on a centre stand of some type, I find a pair of car stands under the 'chops works a treat.

 

Jack the front of the engine enough to take the weight off the front wheel. I would leave the wheel just resting on the floor for stability.

 

Slacken the triple clamps and straighten the fork assembly. If necessary use a long straight edge. Probably everything will pop back into place when you loosen the clamps anyway.

[Guest ratchethack]

What Nog said. I've always used a hunting arrow as a straightedge horizontally through the spokes of the front wheel, and let the arrow drop as low as it will go, using a spoke to keep it snug against the fork lowers, and keeping it level. By sighting with one eye from above (centering your point of view via the steering head), you can make the arrow parallel with the fork bosses in the upper triple clamp by straddling the wheel with your knees and tugging on the bars until it's right. Then snug up all three sets of pinch bolts at your points A, B & C. The correct sequence is C (both sides), then A, then B.

[Bbennett]

Thanks for the advice, I made the fix and everything is back to normal . In fact, it was all good in that I noticed my front tire is in need of replacing during the adjustment. Thanks to all for the excellent advice. By the way and for completeness of the thread, the main triple clamp bolt also needed to be loosened during the procedure.

 

Bob