Front fork alignment

[myk1979]

Is it possible for the front forks to be knocked out of alignment by hitting a pothole and if so, how hard is it to fix?

Cheers, Mick.

[robracer]

Mick it would have to be a bloody big pot hole Undo the tripple clamps give her a shake & do em up, but dont let the forks fall through
the forks should settle into place by doing that.

[myk1979]

Cheers Rob. It was a monster, almost sent me over the bars. I'm not sure if it's all in my head or not but the top of the bars doesn't look to be in line with the wheel. The price i pay for riding back tracks in search of some fun stuff! haha.

i'll take another look and possibly give your idea a go.

Cheers, Mick.

[Gosling1]

Rob's on the money with the triple-clamp advice. If the forks have moved in the clamps a bit, you may get a big metallic *sproing* noise when you loosen off the pinch-bolts.

A very easy and simple method to check that the forks are straight, is to have a mate help you with the 'broomhandle' method.

Sit the bike up straight with a rear race-stand.

Place a length of broom-handle across the forks, immediately under the top clamp....

Place another length across the forks, immediately above the fork seals.

By looking down from above the forks, in line with the handles, you can visually see any misalignment instantly. The ends of the broom handles will not be in line.

This assumes a couple of things - one, the broom-handles are straight, and two, you have more than 1 broom !

Give it a nudge, you may be amazed how far out of alignment the forks are....