Greetings Loons,
Anyone here checked or felt the need to re-align your wheels on your shaft drive Guzzi? Laser?? Proaligner?? String??
How'd that work for ya? :pop
Paul B :BEER:
On mag wheel bikes, there isn't much you can do to change alignment except have your frame bent straight if it's crooked.
*BUT* many people do not take enough care with their front forks. Even assuming that they were straight from the factory, still very small incidents like driveway tipovers can move things around if they're not tight. Here's what I do.
1. Remove the front wheel and fender.
2. Loosen everything including the top tree. This is a good time to check and service your steering head bearings if they have any miles on them.
3. Adjust the steering head bearings properly.
4. Set your approximate ride height. My LM1000 likes the forks up in the trees about an inch because I have an 18" front wheel. Tighten the lower tree clamp, but only on the axle head side fork.
5. Insert the axle through the head side with the clamp bolt just tight enough to make a slip fit, if necessary. The point is to be sure the axle aligns with the hole in the fork leg. Move the nut side fork leg up or down until the axle is perfectly aligned with the hole. Tighten the lower clamp on that side. Slide the axle through and check that it's centered up.
6. Eyeball the fork legs from every angle you can, and see that they are parallel. This is what nobody checks. Adjust the top tree with a mallet until the forks are perfectly aligned. Tighten the tree on the forks, then on the bearing adjuster. Recheck alignment.
7. Install front wheel. It is very important that when you tighten the axle, you do not pull the head side inwards towards the wheel. If the axle head does not move easily in the fork leg, give it a couple taps with the mallet to let it find where it likes to be. Tighten the axle nut first, then the axle head clamp.
The idea here is that unless the legs are perfectly parallel and square in the tree, the alignment can't be correct, and as bad or worse the suspension will not track straight up the steering head axis which can at least create bump steer if the trees are not square, at worst bind up as it travels if the axle compresses the bottom of the fork legs.
Simple, right?
