Bent Forks and Handlebar

Hello,

Last Wednesday, I went down. I low sided in traffic. I am ok, no permanent damage. I was wearing a helmet, armored jacket, pants, and gloves. I have one sprained ankle, and both my wrists are sprained. I am back to work now, and although using my hands is still somewhat painful, I am functioning on my own again.

My bike is not as lucky. I went down at about 35 mph. The bike slid on it's right side. The handlebar is bent, and I am concerned the forks are too. The forks are turned a bit to the right as the bike is ridden straight. I have not seen a LTD handlebar on Ebay, I have seen plenty of forks though. Is this because of frame damage? I have not examined the bike since the crash, my hands lack the strength to balance it on the way out.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

Pictures?

It is possible that the forks were tweaked and could be straightened by loosening them in the triple trees. Only pics will give us a clue. There are a ton of replacement aftermarket bars that should suit your needs; They tend to range around $25 IIRC.
Sorry to hear about your dismount, but glad to hear you are relatively O.K.

One easy frame check is to see if the steering stop peg is bent. This may or may not indicate whether or not the frame is bent, but it is a place to start checking.

Put the bike on the center stand & block/support the engine (use a car jack or homemade engine block).
Loosen the fork clamp bolts, then spin the tubes to check if they are bent. If the triple tree seems misaligned, also loosen the big steering stem nut & locknut, then try to realign everything. I would also loosen the Fr axle nut to make sure everything can be adjusted. Retorque all bolts to the proper specs.

Place a small piece of glass on the fork tubes above the dust seals - it should lay flat.
Other checks - disassembly required. Remove the forks from the bike & remove the fork springs & dust boots. Raise the fork tubes, then let them drop - they should drop smoothly. You can also use this test to check the dust boots - reinstall them & do the drop test - the tubes should drop a little slower if the boots are good.
Remove the upper tubes & roll them on a glass table.
Place the upper triple on a glass table, then press down on a corner - it shouldn't move much.... maybe only a tad. Mine rocked - it was bent. I don't know if this check will work on your bike's lower triple.

Handlebars. If your bike has the stock bars, now would be a good time to get something different. Swapping bars can be a chore, though. Z1Enterprises.com has handlebars. I installed the Euro bars.

Thank you all. Once the pain in my thumbs and wrists goes down some more I will pull out the bike and take some pictures.

I put a cbr down ten years ago and the forks twisted in the tubes, making them look bent. I loosened everything up, straightened and they were good to go for a few more years till I sold it. Hopefully that's it.

Glad you are alright. There should be plenty of spares on this site.

Took some pictures, not sure how helpful they will be. The steering stops appear to be fine, the fork/handlebar travel is the same on either side, well before hitting the gas tank.

Done that a few times and always put the tire against a pole of some type so I could twist the forks back in line using the handlebars. Always got me home and no noticeable damage

steell wrote: Done that a few times and always put the tire against a pole of some type so I could twist the forks back in line using the handlebars. Always got me home and no noticeable damage

Agreed. Ive not dropped my bike yet. Knock on wood. But in my dirtbike days when you go down and the forks seem bent. just put the tire against something solid and twist the handle bars the opposite direction. Always straightened them out for me.