Bike turns right after falling in garage

Hi,
I was working on my newly bought beautiful 800 Fi in my garage, when I finished the job I wanted to put it on the side stand instead of center stand. I grabbed the bike from the left side and when I pushed it to the front it just started to leans right side. Bike felt to the side and so was I, horrible and stupid mistake. Anyway, apart from little scratch (both side fairings were dismantled), I took my VFR for the ride and it was really good, but whenever I let go of handlebars it just leans and turn into right side...

Before the fall I had a squeaky noise when turning and I wanted to change the steering head bearing, but now the noise is gone. Is there any way to diagnose what was bent? Without the speciality tool like laser or something? Or just take it to the workshop? Kinda sucks because I have about 35 miles to the nearest recommended workshop.

 

First, glad that you're okay. There are at least a few things that could have happened, especially if something wasn't torqued to spec when it fell. Verify that forks are straight in the triple by getting the front off of the ground, loosening the fork mounting bolts then retightening. A bent rotor is unlikely, but easy enough to check. You'd have noticed when braking while riding. It seems highly unlikely that anything is actually bent/broken, but it is worth a close look. Let us know what you find. (I put my bikes on the centerstand from the left side, but always take them off from on the seat. )

 

If it's any consolation. I put my (new to me) 2002 VFR800 on the sidestand for my second ride after I got it (it was virtually pristine), and unknown to me, the sidestand bolts were almost completely out. While it idled to warm and for me to put my helmet on, it fell over. Reminder (after 25 years away from motorcycles) to never fully trust a sidestand....

 

Hi, thank you both for the answers, after about 2 hours of digging in the garage and later at the internet, I think I found a cause. Looks like it's a steering stem bearing, because my steering springs into the center like crazy when front is in the air. I didn't really know if that's good or not (VFR is my first bike and it's my first season riding a motorcycle), but I found this https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UbDTP0aM9g0 and it's almost the same in my case. Altrough, I don't have any laser or something, but when the steering springs to center i think it's not exactly in the center (my reference point is cut at the bottom of steering stem, middle dot on HISS and I compare these two to the hole between the two tank screws and tachometer guide - I don't know if there is any better way?) but kinda steers to the left and that would explain bike turns right...

Thanks for advice, didn't really think about sidestand fail... gonna check the bolts if they're torqued to spec. About things like this, my friend who rides a hayabusa told me that when using a pressure washer I should never spray water from rear of the motorcycle directly into the rim, his hayabusa rode a bit to the front on the sidestand and it fold and the bike fell over.

Anyway, I am gonna check if steering stem journal can be done DIY and maybe i'll change it. Gonna reply here if it helped, but I don't know when I'll have the time to fix that, hopefully this week or another. Thanks for help!

 

Changing the steering bearings is definitely in the DIY category. You need either the proper bearing press tools or great care with a hammer and drift. The bottom bearing on the stem is nearly impossible to prise up, and I usually get into it with an angle grinder and carefully cut it off. If you put a cut through the other bearings once they are out, they can be used to protect the new bearings while you are seating those.

 

no info about the bike's mileage ?

 

Yup, I don't think it's gonna be hard for me (used to be a car mechanic, I work on my own cars and now the motorcycle), only thing I do not really understand is thhose two nuts. How much torque, do I really need these special socket? Other than that seems relatively easy.

It's almost 58k kilometers which is about 36k miles. Previous owner didn't really ride a lot, in the 13 years he made up about 10k kilometers.

 

Steering bearings need to be carefully adjusted to find the "sweet spot" between too tight and binding, and too loose and rattly. The adjuster nut needs very little torque, especially if you use a tapered roller bearing, when it is just a little more than finger tight. Ball bearings need more torque but again it is not huge. The second nut is present as the locknut.

A simple hook spanner is enough for the adjusting nut.