Hey guys,

Just looking for a little help here. I wrecked my 954 three weeks ago [:@], and now that my hand has healed enough to shift again, I took the bike out for a quick ride (minus the windcreen and most of the front fairing). Background on the crash: Another bike crossed traffic in front of me, and regardless of my desperate attempt to avoid him, I nosed into him at about 25/30 mph. Frame sliders did the trick and completely saved the left side fairing and there was relatively no damage other than front plastics and a broken stay bracket. The only problem that I'm having is when I'm riding in a straight line, the bike seems to want to pull to the right. It's not horrible, but if I take my hands off the bars, I've got to dig my right knee into the tank pretty hard to keep her straight. I'm thinking it's an alignment problem, but I don't have much experience in this area. Any help would be appreciated....

Casey

 

You probably bent your forks - if you hit him with your tire first, you could practically count on it. If you aren't sure, I would take it to the shop and have it looked at 'cause that can be dangerous as hell if you have to turn quick or brake hard...

 

The same kinda thing happened to a friend I mine and it only ended up being the front axle or bolt or whatever you call the bolt thatr holds On the front wheel. I guess it just depends on where you live as to what you call it. It was very obvious though cause when he tried to take it out we had to beat it out. We also took it the the dealer and had the forks checked to be sure.

 

I'm planning on trying to fix it tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I don't find that the forks are bent. I honestly didn't think that I could have hit the other bike hard enough to bend the forks, but the more that I read on here, the more likely it seems that I'm going to find that as the cause of my problems.......

 

Just an update..... Looks like I fixed the problem. I loosened the lower triple tree clamps, and I had someone sit on the bike to keep it upright while I held the front tire between my knees. You kind of have to jerk the handle bars a little to get the forks to turn in the clamps, but it seems to move back into place rather easily. I'm guessing that when I hit the other bike, it was at an angle, and forced the forks to "twist" slightly in the bracket. It's kind of a double-edged sword because the brackets are loose enough to provide movement and avoid bending the forks, but tight enough that when you jam them, they will hold the forks in what ever position they moved to after the crash.
Thanks for the help guys...... It was good to get back on and ride!