Front End After Accident

[ericl]

On Saturday I had a car take a left turn from a side street in front of me.  I didn't have time to get stopped and ended up hitting going 10 mph or so.  I'm doing fine, but I have some question about the valkyrie.

My dad and I have been looking at the bike and there are two concerns:

1) When riding straight down the road now the top triple tree isn't square to the frame like it should be, it is tilted to one side.

2) The steering feels much lighter than before the impact. 

What are we missing?  I don't see any marks on the frame or cracked welds.  The forks look straight to the eye.  If something is bent would it be way out of whack or just a slight tweak?

Does anyone have any methods to figure out what isn't right with the front end of the bike?

Would you guys ride this bike after a slow speed impact like this?  or am I asked for trouble if I do?

Thanks.

[Joe Hummer]

Eric,

Have you loosened forks from the triple trees?  it could be that they are just tweaked a little. 

Joe

[Robert]

If you can notice that the trees are not square then there's a problem use a straight edge held against the forks for comparison. As for the trees I doubt you bent the frame but somethings amiss I would find the problem and then you can make a educated decision as to what to do without knowing whats bent and how much its just guessing. It sounds like you may have bent the tree where it goes into the frame thats not good I dont think you bent the forks but get the straight edge and see. Pinwalls on ebay has all those parts used so it may not be much money to fix.

[Pete]

It is not right like it is, so run the checks listed above.

Loosen everything up check it realign it and re-tighten according to the sequence in the manual.
If you are lucky all will be well.

If not start ordering parts.