Dodgy frame issues

So I should have checked the alignment before even thinking about buying bits
from a breaker. This could be more dosh down the drain. But somebody told
me there was no chance of bending the frame. Maybe the hoodies were coasting
quicker than I thought.

With either the string method or the pipe method, I can't escape the feeling
that the gap on the offside is about 10mm larger than the nearside. The forks
don't look bent - I checked them with a straight edge, and untwisted them.
The rear wheel's on the swingarm straight. I don't know what else to do but
assume that they've fucking bent the frame, but at the same time I just can't
believe it. I'm going to have another go at untwisting the forks after I post
this, just in case.

It was quite difficult to do the string check, but eventually I picked up the
knack for feeling when it hits the front side of the rear tyre. The pipe
check was easier, you can sit at the side of the bike and easily feel when the
pipe is on both sides of the rear tyre.

Where's the nearest Motoliner shop to North London? I see on the web,
there's one in Maidstone - "from 150 quid", FFS, and not exactly near! Lozzo,
do you know one?

Or perhaps I should just break the fucking thing.

 

Antony Gelberg says...

Your frame is unlikely to be bent, unless it was bent before the theft.
Stop faffing about, get the thing running and run it up the road to see
if it pulls to one side and feels odd, then undo the yoke clamps and
boot the forks straight. Thieves dropping it on the deck woudn't have
bent the frame - if it was able to do that, then just about every
Thundercat in existance would be L shaped. Your fairing took most of the
force, you didn't even end up with a busted brake lever or a bent
handlebar ffs, what makes you think the frame bent?

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki SV650 K3
Suzuki GSX-R750L - For Sale £600
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

Rear wheel alignment is perfect isn't it?.

I've got two lengths of 1" box section steel for checking stuff like that.
Rather than trying to hold one section in line and chalk marking it, one
section each side of the rear wheel then they are bolted together through
the rim so they are touching the tyre lightly on each side at the rear.
Quick check for parallellism and voila.

---------------------
==== ====
---------------------

'Scuse the awful diagram.

Odd. It feels odd.

 

The one time I did it:-

A lot of effort to put the thing into left-handers, and it dived into
right-handers like a ferret after a rabbit.

 

It's more likely that the rear wheel is out of alignment. I take it you have
checked it?

 

Badger wrote:

<snip>

You don't actually need string or pipe/box section for checking wheel
alignment btw. If you eyeball[1] down the front wheel rim on either side
to the rear wheel, it becomes -very- clear when they are not in line.

I thought the only proper way for checking for a bent frame was on an
alignment jig, but as per other posts I'd be extremely surprised if low
speed drops would bend one. Unless it was a Chinese frame made of cheese
of course.

[1] Move your eye and steering around until you can just see front/rear
edge of the front rim, IYSWIM

 

Yup. I also have a chain alignment thingy which is quite good. Bought it
yonks ago. A C clamp with a bit of stainless rod. Simple, effective tool.

I managed to bend all three upper rails on an XJ in a 10MPH drop. Quite how
I never figured, but bend them I did. Most odd handling afterwards.

ISWYM. I struggle with that unless the bike is on a paddock stand or centre
stand though.

 

I was relying on the swingarm markings. *hangs head in shame*

I'll get it running then take it to a shop where they can check it over.
Bloody ignition switch and footpeg aren't here yet, grr.

 

Doh. We use a laser alignment tool. Sounds fancy and
expensive but it's the size of a matchbox and they
don't cost much. You put it on your rear sprocket
and a dot appears on the chain near the sprocket.
Move the sprocket/tool and the dot moves up the
chain. If it's in line the dot stays in line on
the chain (eg, on the outer plate of the link)
otherwise it moves.

CAT tool thingy at the top:
http://www.profiproducts.com/profilasercat.html

I think M&P sell them, or try ebay.

 

http://www.probike.co.uk/it110009.htm

 

Their price for the whole bike aligner is a joke - 700ukp, ffs. For that
price a pair of laser pointers, some workshop time making up a couple of
clamps front and rear and a jolly nice holiday could be had.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Antony Gelberg formulated the question :

Check the rear wheel is properly aligned first. You can do that by
sighting down from the front wheel towards the back on both sides.
Sight it so that the forward and rear edges of the rear tyre line up
that point on each side should be the same distance from the front
tyre, the front being a smaller width than the rear.

Lay a large sheet of paper under the bike (reverse of wall paper), bike
must be on a good perfectly flat surface. Put the bike on its centre
stand on the paper, or find another way to hold it vertical - but it
must be absolutely vertical.

Using a plumb bob carefully mark various marks on the paper from the
frames identical points on both sides and the wheels, as reference
points. after removal of the bike from the paper - with a straight edge
mark a precise centre line from the wheels.

All the marks should be perfectly symmetrical from each other and from
the centre line.

 

My Duke 900SS cracked a frame tube, just behind the steering head.
That made for some very interesting effects.

 

There's race footage of a Sportster "race" where one rider puts the
bike into a ditch and then manages to get it back on the track. The
frame is so twisted the wheels from behind are making a X shape but he
manages to get it back to the pits, in similar vein to the above
experience.

 

As did the cracked Ducati frame, which the dealer tried to say was "a
scratch in the paint". Twats.

 

Bear says...

When we scrapped my mate Brian "the mad Ugg" Collier's old couriered
XJ650 we decided to cut the engine out of the obviously bent frame. I
was cutting through the top spine with my trusty hacksaw when there was
a loud creaking noise, next push on the hacksaw and the frame twanged
open with an almighty bang. The gap between the cut ends of the frame
tube was a good 3 to 4 inches - it had been under so much pressure from
being bent that I had only got about 80% of the way through before it
broke under its own force. It was when we looked closer at other frame
tubes that we noticed the cracks in welds all over the place, cracks
with deep set rust in them.

Ugg had been riding that bike home to Bedford from Manchester the
previous day, when the gearbox finally expired altogether.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
Suzuki SV650 K3
Suzuki GSX-R750L - For Sale £600
Yamaha SR250 SpazzTrakka
I ride way too fast to worry about cholestorol.

 

Hurrah!

Let all of UKRM do a happy dance together, wherever we are.

They can take away our licences but they can't stop us dancing.

We are free men, free to wear bells and dance and wave sticks in a
drunken fashion, dress as cowboys and dance in squares and lines, or to
just shuffle about in a dad-like manner.

Or just stand at the side because nobody asked us to dance[1].

Let us rejoice in not being dead yet, for tomorrow we may die, or get a
bruise or break a fingernail or something.

[1] Although that is not entirely your own choice, obviously.

 

Or hiccups.

 

Common problem, all replaced FOC by Ducati.
In fact, I know of a guy that had his done
*last year* and the bike was 10 years old.

 

Eek!

<Runs into garage with torch>