balance

[scarylarry]

bought a 97 standard in july..let go of the bars and it takes off to the right..is this normal ..none of my other smaller bikes did this

[alph]

No, this is not normal!!  You might want to check your forks, see if there's any odd wear on either, if your seals leaked all the oil out of one side, check the tire for uneven wear, check your axel for trueness, and check the bearings, something’s not right!! 

I’ll often take my hands off the handle bars to pull off my right glove so that I can push the button on my key fob that opens my garage door, she runs as straight as an arrow, even at speeds as low as 25mph.  There’s definitely something wrong with your front end.

[Jess from VA]

Look at your front tire.

[Ricky-D]

bought a 97 standard in july..let go of the bars and it takes off to the right..is this normal ..none of my other smaller bikes did this

Stop riding in the rut!

Try riding on the crown!

***

[Spirited-6]

Larry, I`ll bet you are "scary" all over the road.  Welcome to the VRCC.  There are several things that might make your Valk. wander. Flat spots in your tire, miss aligned forks, as said road crown, ECT. My bet is TIRE. Good luck. 

[paps350]

Check front and rear tire.I had a rear tire worn bad on left side and it caused same problem. Replaced rear tire and corrected problem

[Chiefy]

I'm new to Valks.  While I don't make it a habit to ride with no hands (LOOK MA!!! No Ha**CRASH**)  My Valk tracks like a small chopper I used to own.  Square and straight foreverrrrrrrrrrr

[sugerbear]

how do you "align the forks?"

[Chrisj CMA]

how do you "align the forks?"

On the valk....all you can really do is make sure both fork tubes are at the same height.  I had a friend  bring his bike over and we noticed his forks had been put back on after a seal replacement one was 1/2" higher than the other.......he said it tracked much better after that was corrected

[Ricky-D]

I think the height difference is because of the difference in spring compression rates.

A peculiar differences in the front end do not affect handling as long as the front axle is well torqued.

It's a misconception that anything that does not match, right from left, in the front end will result in "pulling" or off balance riding. 

You always have to keep in mind that it is a single wheel and by itself can do nothing but roll in it's own track with no outside help but to keep it rolling in it's own track!

***

[Walküre]

It's a misconception that anything that does not match, right from left, in the front end will result in "pulling" or off balance riding.

As much as I hate to beg to differ (having read a few of your posts), I have to beg to differ...one fork being higher than the other, CAN and WILL affect pulling or off-balance riding. I have experienced it first-hand, on a Honda CB750F, on which we inadvertently placed one fork tube higher in the tree. Handling went from great, to zip, until rectified. As in the quote below, it causes an offset, between front and rear wheel, which affects handling:

WHEEL ALIGNMENT: (1): In the most basic form it means that the front and rear wheel are in-line. That is, they point in the same direction and are not offset from each other. (2): A more constraining definition of the term also requires that both wheels are in the same plane. That is, one wheel is not vertically tilted with respect to the other. On a motorcycle that is not properly set up or has a bent frame, forks or swingarm (1) can be true without (2) being the case.

R