Steering mis-aligned

When I took my 1982 KZ550 LTD out for the first test ride, the one thing I noticed was that the steering seemed off alignment, veering to the left instead of being parallel to me. I did notice this when I removed the wheel(to install a new tire) and put it back but I wasn't really sure until I rode it around. I scanned through all the manuals and these forums but was unable to understand how to adjust this alignment. I do not see anything wrong with frame itself. And it's not like the bike pulls to the left or anything. It's just off to the side and I'm guessing it's because of a fall it took some time in the past (there is other evidence on the bike about this).

You need to check the oil in your forks to make sure they have equal amounts of oil. How is the tire wear? Roy

Back wheel alinement ?

bluej58 wrote: Back wheel alinement ?

Ckeck the alignment by sight (looking down the top of the chain) and not by the marks on the swingarm.

Tire pressure. Roy

You noticed a Miss-alignment while changing the front tire? Care to elaborate? Are the spacers correctly placed on each side of the hub?

Steering Mis-aligned... :blink:
Unless the front fork tubes are bent, be hard to miss align with everything (wheel spacers, rotor, caliper etc...)correctly in place.

Now you may have some brake caliper dragging that is pulling you left or right.
* Raise the front end off the ground and remove the fender.
Standing directly over the tire spin it and see if rim or brake rotor is warped and coming into
with the brake pads.

* Also, verify tire arrow is correctly installed (forward rotation).

OMR

Let me elaborate.

The bike had a really bad looking front tire (cracked, browned, almost no tread). When I had the bike on center-stand and looked at steering from the front while standing between the tires to ensure that it was aligned with the frame, I then went to the opposite side and while sitting on the seat noticed that the steering was not parallel to me. I thought maybe this was due to the bad tire or the wheel not installed correctly. I replaced the tire (put a new one since it needed on badly) and I noticed that nothing changed on the steering. And when I finally took it out on a test ride, I confirmed that the steering was indeed not parallel to me.

It doesn't look like a real wheel alignment issue. Not sure if this is a fork issue either because I think I notice this even when the front tire is off the ground.

Take some clean images and post, maybe someone will be able to spot something out place.

never mind mistake

My triples were twisted in relation to each other and the result is what you are describing. If that's the case, support the bike, loosen the triple clamp bolts, see if you can bring them back parallel to each other.

damarble wrote: My triples were twisted in relation to each other and the result is what you are describing. If that's the case, support the bike, loosen the triple clamp bolts, see if you can bring them back parallel to each other.

We have a winner!

Sorry damarble but could you please say all of that again in English? :dry: Are you referring to teh upper triple clamp? And what do you mean when you talking about bringing them back in parallel? Sorry but I have my newbie flag up!