pulls to the right

[currahee2-6]

Greetings all!~,
My 2000 IS pulls to the right at speed. (20 mph+) Not too hard, but enough that I cant let go of both grips and go straight down the road. (either side of the white line or crown makes no difference) (72K miles) It might be my imagination but I swear the handle bars are just so slightly twisted to the right. (Left hand is juuust ahead of my right. I measure this with both hands exactly on the outer end of the grips in exactly the same part of my hands.  SO...whats not aligned?  NO, its not my shoulders....LOL!!   What do I look at first? and what to do?  The front tire is evenly worn both sides and middle so it's not THAT bad!


Ideas please....thanks  Dave 

[RonW]

Sounds like misaligned forks. One fork has been bumped back in respect the opposite side fork, while in the process, the handlebars remained in their fixed position, therefore the offset. If you imagine, the front surface of the two front forks are in the same imaginary pane. Hypothetically, if you hold a pane of glass against the two forks, just below the lower triple tree bridge, both forks will touch the pane of glass. On the bottom edge of the glass pane, one fork will not. Since the front tire is bolted between the two forks, as so faces the pane of the front forks, so points the front wheel belonging to the same imaginary pane. Again, with the handlebars having remained in their factory position. Dirt bikers just whack the front tire against a tree. Done.

[redflash]

When did you last do wheel bearings?

[old2soon]

Did you have the front wheel off recently?? If yes-did you follow the correct tighting sequence and totque specs?? Hope this helps and you find your problemo. RIDE SAFE.

[Ricky-D]

I think it can be only one of three things.

(1) there is a weight in the trunk that is over to the right side.
(2) there is a weight in the right side saddlebag
(3) you are sitting off center on the bike.

Pulling isn't very descriptive since that is not a possibility: but
leaning is the operational word.

An unbalance situation is the only cause responsible for leaning other that riding surface irregularities.

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[Attic Rat]

I agree with old2soon had the same problem years ago and it turned out that I did not follow correct proceedure for installing the front wheel RTFB that is what I had to do LOL

[Ferris Leets]

I had a Moto Guzzi and lost one of the bags.  For several months I had everything on one side.  It made no difference to the tracking.  Counter intuitive I know but try it some time.  I am voting for the forks being slightly twisted or the windshield being off center some how.  My Nomad was very picky about how the windshield was adjusted, it had about 3" of vertical adjustment and could be set with one side high and one side low.

[The Anvil]

An unbalance situation is the only cause responsible for leaning other that riding surface irregularities.

Yeah that's just wrong. There can be other causes of a bike not wanting to hold a straight line.

I'm never personally had a wheel installation cause it, but years ago I installed some 96 ZX7R forks and brakes on my 93 ZX7. While I was working the brake end I trusted a friend to torque up the pinch bolts holding the tubes. Mistake. The bike would not track a straight line on the test ride. I looked everything over and found one of the upper clamp pinch bolts was never tightened. 

I loosened up all of the pinch bolts and started over by properly step torquing them and it was fine after that. But even if you torque all of them to spec you can still end up with tubes that are not quite aligned with each other.

[currahee2-6]

Thanks for the responses. My big fat ass is centered so thats not it...the bags are generally well balanced with stuff....so   i think i"ll start with confirming that the wheel is in correctly and the torque is good. Then move up the forks to confirm they are parallel, (same pane) then to the tree to see if its straight then to the handle bars to see if it's an illusion that makes them appear twisted........other than that, I'll just keep both hands on the grips and not try to stand up on the seat with my arms out like a cross......testing the drift....LOL   

[RonW]

The only other possibility that I can think of for the handlebar not being 90-degrees to the front tire is the risers are offset from each other on the triple tree. Pic below from another forum that I'm on.

[Ferris Leets]

Do you dress left or right.  I find that it affects the drift on my Valk.

[Ricky-D]

I think geometry can also affect the ride ability of a two wheel vehicle but in my opinion the degree of difference needed to make the bike want to always go in one certain direction (to the right or to the left) well, to me, the misalignment would be easily evident to the eye.  How about a loose rear axle? That certainly could cause a bike to want to go to the (left or right).

One area that has not been addressed yet in this thread is the possibility of indexed stem bearings.  This could possibly be the reason for many reports of the same genre (pulling) we often read of in this forum. It (indexed bearings) should not be dismissed out of hand.

And finally for now, what about the front tire. We all are familiar with how the tire wears out always more on the left side as opposed to the right side.  I think a tire such as that would certainly want to go in a direction that is not straight ahead, especially when trying to ride (no hands).

You could pump the tires up to a high pressure temporarily to help determine, if indeed, it is the tire or not.

And check the rear axle for tight!

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