front forks

[matt]

so my right front was leaking, I really wanted to do head bearing and progressives but that will be winter project.  rebuild went good, I have put over 25,000 miles on bike never really been happy with handling. Well during rebuild I found left spring in upside down, well i fixed that did bushings seals and 10w oil, now it hits bumps better but lets say you are driving down road and you lean left and right  handle bar used to stay straight with bike now it seems to want to turn when i do that and it actually feels loose. Question now that forks are good is it possible it is showing head bearing wear more?   Thanks for any help on this I am an auto tech by trade but usually can handle motocycles,four wheelers,lawn mowers ect    Matt

[hubcapsc]

When Stude31 helped me rebuild my left fork in the
parking lot at InZane, he was real careful to adjust the
nut on the threaded rod that goes up into the fork cap
so that the axle made a straight shot through both...
axle holes  ... anywho... it seemed like the right
thing to do, but I could only guess at what the effect
would be if they weren't lined up... maybe the bike
would tend not to run straight...

-Mike

[matt]

Thanks Mike,  I did do that cause when I first put forks back on left was lower than right, it took me a few trys of moving that nut till axle seemed to be level (lined up)    Matt

[Ricky-D]

If a motorcycle fails to want to run in a straight line (some would say it "pulls") you can be sure it is not caused by what you are thinking. Uneven axle mountings.

The only way this "uneven axle mountings" could affect handling would necessarily have to include a loose front axle.

The most common reasons for the problem you report is poor balance alignment. This can be accomplished in many ways such as  too much weight variation between the right side and left side of the bike. Simply not having your own body mass evenly distributed on the bike can cause the problem.

There are some mechanical reasons that could be the cause of the problem you report but they are mainly restricted to problems with the motorcycle frame geometry that could have been a result of an accident where the result could be the front and rear wheels do not track in line with the central axis of the bike.

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