Bent forks or misaligned

Hey all,

New member here. I got a 04 VFR that I've been using for a few months. Last night somebody hit the bike pretty hard on the front while the wheel was locked. Ended up on its side pretty hard, cracking the font fender, and pushing the frame slider almost into the radiator. Most irritating is that the alighment is all out of whack now. Is there any obvious way to find out if the forks are bent or if its just knocked out of alignment?


Here are a few pics. The one pic shows the bar position when the wheel is straight. The bars touches the tank on a left turn and the turning radius is definitely much worse.

 

Personally I would take the forks off and check them for straightness. If they are slightly bent you can get them straightened. If they are not bent you can at least realign the front end when you remount them.

 

Aggh - that does not look good.

Sorry for the long reply!

First question - who is paying to fix this mess? If someone witnessed the collision then I suggest you do nothing to the bike. Just take a heap of photos to identify clearly what happened, when and where it happened and what got broken - so lots of close ups of all damage. Then report the incident to your insurers and get them to claim for the repair/replacement. Do not attempt to fix anything until it has been inspected. If there is any risk the frame is bent - they will probably write the whole bike off as "not safe to repair" especially as the bike is ten years old. They probably won't be prepared to take the risk of a hidden weakness causing a subsequent accident.

If its a hit and run, and you have no idea who damaged your bike, then the next question is whether you can claim against your own insurance, and if so whether it makes economic sense to do so? I guess it is a matter of trying to work out whether or not it is sensible to make a claim if the damage is only cosmetic as you would loose a heap of no claims entitlement. That in turn hinges on whether or not the bike will be safe to ride and can work out a cost effective repair strategy which is less than the extra insurance cost.


From the photos it looks like one of the clipon's has moved (the hoses they do not appear symmetrical). So before messing with anything else I would check that the clip-ons have not moved. If you are lucky you may be able to see from dirt or corrosion marks on the clamp area and identify which one has moved and can simply free off the clamp bolt and put it back in place. That may be all that is needed to stop the bars hitting the tank.

Next check the extent of that cosmetic damage which may be hiding more serious issues and can still be expensive to fix even if its just cosmetic. So remove the fairings and carefully check all the fairing panels and mounting lugs, check that radiator for damage. Check the wheel bearings run freely and are properly located, check the wheels and tyres(tires) have no damage. Bounce the suspension to see if the forks and shock move smoothly. Examine closely the steering lock mountings - as if they sustained damage there is a risk they may engage without warning - and you really would not want the steering to lock up whilst riding.

It looks like the no-cut slider has taken a whack and may need straightening or more likely replacement - as once that sort of component is stressed they can lose a lot of their strength and may just break off if the bike falls over again. Things like the cracked mudguard can be patched with ducktape and then repaired by plastic welding - the result will be serviceable but will never look perfect - so it might be easier to replace.

Then round up a friend and take (push/trailer) the bike somewhere flat, safe and empty - a shopping mall car-park - to carry out a careful visual check of the bike. Get your friend to hold the bike straight upright whilst you walk around - does it look right? Then see what happens when you try to walk the bike dead straight whilst keeping the bike upright (ideally follow a line marked on the ground). Does it roll/move freely? Are the brakes catching at all? Does it track true or veer off to one side?

Only if that seems fine, with the bike stationary check all the controls work OK (carry out a full pre-ride safety check of things like chain tension, oils etc!) and then take the bike for a few slow clockwise and anticlockwise circuits - does the bike feel right? Only if the bike feels OK take the bike on wider circuits until you are using all gears. If that works fine - you may have got away with it.

Worryingly the serious crack in the mudguard suggests the bike has had a lot of sideways force applied to those forks.

If there is major damage to the forks you will probably be able to tell just by looking at the bike - but lesser damage - especially if one leg has moved slightly in the triple clamps can be much harder to detect, but can make the handing very nervous and unpredictable.

To be honest even if the bike looks and seems to run fine, I would suggest you get a professional to check the bike out - as it is your life on the line.

I hope you get it sorted OK but Please take care!



SkiMad

 

Take the forks off to inspect them, change the fork oil why you are at it, assuming they are straight and not bent. Replace your front axle, 30 dollar part and you need it straight or you will have all kinds of problems. Ask me how I know this.

 

You say this is an 04?

It is a 5th gen which means it is a 98-01. None of this matters in the question at hand, of course.

 

Forks where meant to twist in their tipple trees, my 91 has gone through three front fenders in its life cycle. You could loosen the pinch bolts on the lower tree and it should re-straighten. You could also force it more with you on the bike and wacking the front tyre/wheel against a sturdy door frame. You could also remove the fork legs and put them on M stands and see if they are oot of wack, which at that point, if you know someone with a press, could possibly straighten them. Or you could buy used ones from ebay, or new ones from the friendly honda dealer.

I would find that farking arse hole that did that to your bike and punch them in their bread basket, if it was a chick, I would punch her in her poosy. Good Luck

 

I hate to be the douche bag in the room .........but........is this an insurance claim? If it is I would direct you one way and if not a totally different way. The insured way does involve the forks being shipped to the fork tuner of your choice for inspection and replacement of the springs, valves, seals ,and oil that were all obviously damaged in the very regrettable accident. Just saying that there should be a little sun shine in an otherwise terrible situation. Call it a settlement for the wicked emotional trauma that even I can see from here.

 

I call shenanigans!

Not on the OP, but on Long's last post. It is clearly too legible to have been written by Long.
I believe he has hired a Ghost Writer.

Sorry for the thread jack.


EDIT:
Never mind. Just realized Toe had Long as his avatar. That raises a whole other set of issues.

 

To answer your question: can not tell if beny or out of align from your pics.

Now to the advise. Dont fuck with it, if you know whom did this offense then claim it. If not file a hit and run then claim it. Good chance that the 1500$ in broken and bent parts is more expensive then 10$ more for insurance. Also if you have bent forks then your repair costs have doubled and thats before you consider the axle, bearings, sensors ( if it is a 6th gen, looks like a 5th gen to me) and the amount of time it takes to put it all back together.

Remember to take lots and lots of photos! Documented record can help hold the value and shows anyone that may buy from you that it was fixed properly.

 

What was the oot-come?