what is the best way to find out if forks are bent.......and I mean something that a used bike salesman won.t tell cause the eye can't visibly see, I can understand tryin to test ride but any other col tips or tricks be waiting peace......................

 

i didnt even know my forks were bent till i took it out for a ride, cause you gotta kinda see how it tracks in a straight line. Its pretty hard to put the tire to what you think is straight and look, cause i thought my tire was straight befor and they wernt bent. I was wrong.

Why would you buy a bike without test riding anyway?

 

ive heard something about seeing if they line up with a straight piece of glass or something along those lines..but it might be differnt if their just tweaked not bent bent..

 

depends on the bike. if it is a bike with inverted forks the forks are usually the last thing to bend. Fist thing to bend is the triples, then the frame, then the forks.

on bikes with little *** standard forks like the f2, f3, f4 and f4i its usually the forks, then the triples, then the frame.

One way to tell on the standard forks is to drop the forks down in the triples and see if there is a groove on the tube where the fork goes into the bottom triple. If you can feel anything its bent.

on standard forks, if you can visably tell that the forks are bent.. even slightly then 9 times out of 10 the triples are bent as well.

On bikes like the 00 - 03 gixxers if the forks are bent the frame is almost always tucked.

 

Good info form Lb3- use it. I also check the gap between the back of the front tire and the exhaust or lower plastic. If you can, measure the gap on a known straight bike, and then compare it to the one you're looking at. Sometimes its hard to tell until its too late unless you check closely.

 

also, if you already have the bike or are checking to see what is bent after a wreck you can check to see if the triples are bent by pulling the lower tripple off of the bike and setting it on a glass table. If it doesnt sit perfectly straight and sit solid then they are bent. Thats a pretty crude way of testing but its about as good as you can get short of having your front end computracked.

 

yeah..thats what i heard somehow use glass to do it...haha

 

take them off, get a level, run the level around the fork holding it parralell to the tube....

 

One way is to pump the front, if it's sticking and not moving normally->bend.

Still I had 954 with bend fork and triple and it had still smooth action. Drive and see if the bars are straight. If not the front can be bend from the triple. Sometimes even loosening the bolts will bring it back to normal.

It's almoust impossible to tell for sure. One way is to look for other damage, if the rim is busted->it's bend. If the steering locks have hit marks the triples can be bend.

only way to tell for sure is to buy new bike

Jaket

 

I just bought a craftsman laser from sears for 30.00 that projects a straight line. Crazy thanksgiving sales. I know my forks are bent I going to try it out anyways.