Front fork alignment after dropping her

[Cabezargento88]

After a motorcycle accident last year in a KTM Adventure 950 now the S10 feels super top heavy for me. I have had many bikes and never had this problem, but the Tenere feels super heavy after my injuries. I had dropped it a couple of times, twice in close turns and also a couple of times stopped. Every time it goes down, either stopped or at slow speed, forks always get unaligned to the right. It always happens and it calls my attention. Always to the right. Anyone here had experience the same ?. It calls my attention that as soon as it goes down, handlebar points to the right. I had had many bikes and this is the only one with this issue. I had the idea of using fork brace to stop the issue but having upside-down forks does not allow us for this solution. Previous owner had a front hit and replaced the computer and windshield but said this issue never happened to him....
Ideas?

 

[taskmaster86]

The S-10 IS top heavy and easy to drop, no two ways about it.

I dropped my S-10 on the right side turning around in a tight parking lot after a long day when I was over tired. The handlebars cocked to right pretty badly after the fall so I released every fastener below the upper triple clamp and re-aligned everything. The alignment came back to almost being correct but never really seemed perfect again. After taking some measurements and studying everything, I concluded that the handlebar bent in and back towards the rider seat when it fell.

I am guessing this is what happened to your bike. Here is what you should do: Go ahead and loosen every bolt starting at your triple clamp and work your way all the way down to the axle pinch bolt. Make all of them finger loose and then lightly bang the front tire back in the direction of straight. Bounce the front suspension lightly and do your best to align everything again. Tighten all of fasteners, starting with the upper triple clamp bolt and work your way down. Now go for a ride and see if that fixed the problem.

If it didn't, your handlebar is bent. Either try to bend it back to straight or replace it. Those are your only options at that point.... Good luck!

 

[2daMax]

Youtube search "youtube motorcyce fork alignment" comes out a few tips on how to do it.

What bikes are not top heavy? I found the S10 to be OK, and it is easier to push compared to a lighter more top heavy Versys 650 especially when the tank is full.

 

[ace50]

I have yet to drop my Tenere, I have laid over my other bikes..................after forgetting to put the kickstand down! ::010:: (Big Royal Star)
Even my little '96 Magna seems heavier to push around sometimes than the Tenere.

I do suggest re-aligning the front end if you can. It shouldn't be that way.
BTW, how tall are you?

 

[wtwill]

Riding dirt roads last week with a buddy my tenere went down in a muddy turn. My friend was riding it, I was on his DR650. The forks tweaked ever so slightly out of alignment. Crash was at about 20-25 mph. I loosened all the triple clamp bolts and turned the forks slightly in the clamps to relieve any tension then tightened everything back up. It is back to normal now. It is odd that the forks tweaked because the handlebar never touched the ground. I'm guessing the stop on the frame caused it. On a side note, left oem side case was destroyed.

 

[BadNews]

I watched three or four of those videos on YouTube. In the Dave Moss vid (OTT) he said anytime you drop your bike the forks are going to get tweaked.
I also have a question: in the vids they mentioned using a paddock stand; would using the center stand be ok?

I love this forum, it's so educational! ::012::

 

[Cabezargento88]

Thanks for all the replies.
I guess it is just a heavy beast. I changed the handlebars for a Protaper Contour I had laying around and did followed the procedure to straighten the front end. Using the center stand, twisting the front wheel in the opposite direction and just a little bouncing in the front suspention was enough and now is straight again.
It just called my attention that with the minimal fall again and without the handlebars touching the ground it will get analigned. You guys confirm it, I guess it is just a heavy beast and something we have to live with. It just never happens so easily with the KLR, XR600R or KTM 950 ADV.

 

[Squibb]

Interesting thread - I had an old biking buddy, who thought he had a problem, a bit like the OP. In the end he thought he had lost his touch, after over 40 years riding. Turned out it was the steering head bearings - Yamaha had economised on grease at assembly & he had jet washed the bike a few times just to help things along. The steering was stiff, the bike had to be contra-steered in & out of corners & slow turns felt down right dangerous, he just saved flop-overs several times. Thankfully a new set of head bearings soon had it fixed.

Bearing in mind the bikes history here, sounds like everything has been re-aligned along with new bars, so it has got to be worth strpping out the steering head bearings to see it they are tracked, notched or just dry.

Ride safe ..................... KEN

 

[snakebitten]

Been throwing Teneres on the ground all week. (Having a ball doing it, of course)

We've trashed some break-pads, hand guards, and mirrors I think. But nobody has complained of fork alignment issues.
Fork seals? That's different! Bottoming them out over and over, one of us blew one today.
(found em in stock a few miles north. Will go fix em in the morning)

Not sure tweaked forks is that common on these. Wonder what the cause actually is.

 

[Don in Lodi]

My 2012's twisted bars came from the lifting, not the crash to the ground. Twist the bars full lock and do the lift and the torque twists things a bit. Since I straightened things up and tightened everything back up it's survived being lifted a few times without twisting. I always suspected a low torque number from the factory. A buddy's '16 twisted pretty bad on it's first lift as well.

 

[SilverBullet]

...Not sure tweaked forks is that common on these. Wonder what the cause actually is.

Snake, I think these posts are all about Gen 2 bikes as they have rubber bar clamp inserts that can get tweaked.

_

Sent from my SM-G860P using Tapatalk

 

[snakebitten]

Ahhhh. My bad.

Thanks for setting me straight!

 

[Kimmern]

Im gonna share my story here.
Two days ago on a parkinglot i dropped my bike hard to the right after forgetting to unlock my disklock which was locked on the right front brakedisc. After getting it up, i see only cosmetical scraches on the sidebag and on the crashbar. Few hours riding, i believe i see missalignment on the front end fork. Its barely visiable but i believe its there. Had my frie d confirm this and he says 'maybee half a millimeter'. I however think its few mm more. I have so far ridden 2000km like this (on my way to transfagarasan). I feel no difference. I am a little afraid this will shorten my front tire life or worse, bent something so hard it cant be bended back. (ES model)
Thx for this forum. I will try some of the methods mentioned here.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Im gonna share my story here.
Two days ago on a parkinglot i dropped my bike hard to the right after forgetting to unlock my disklock which was locked on the right front brakedisc. After getting it up, i see only cosmetical scraches on the sidebag and on the crashbar. Few hours riding, i believe i see missalignment on the front end fork. Its barely visiable but i believe its there. Had my frie d confirm this and he says 'maybee half a millimeter'. I however think its few mm more. I have so far ridden 2000km like this (on my way to transfagarasan). I feel no difference. I am a little afraid this will shorten my front tire life or worse, bent something so hard it cant be bended back. (ES model)
Thx for this forum. I will try some of the methods mentioned here.

Taskmaster had the cure and glad that it sounds like you found his post.
I'd just add that when I've done the loosen/retighten trick, I leave ONE of the triple clamps tight so the forks don't simply slide out.