Straightening the Triple Clamp

Decon · Post by **Decon** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 12:54 pm

Hey all

I'm sure Iâ€™ve done something wrong, so Iâ€™m just looking for advice.

Some how in my low side at the track I managed to bend one of my fork tubes and twist the upper triple clamp out of alignment. So I ordered 2 new tubes and installed them along with RaceTech valves and Ohlins springs (not a fun job )

So now I have two straight forks and the whole front end off the bike. I installed the forks in the lower triples and tightened them down to the recommended torque as per the manual. I installed the steering stem bolt finger tight as described.

Now this is where the manual was a little fuzzy in what to do or not to do. So I installed the front wheel and then started to tighten down the rest of the Triple clamp bolts and the clip-ons. After everything was said and done the upper triple is tweak a little to the left when the wheel is straight.

Did I screw up by installing the front wheel before tightening the steering stem bolt? Or is something else bent?

Any help would be great.

Mark

Stormin Ben · Post by **Stormin Ben** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 9:56 pm

Personally I'd tighten the steering stem nut first
Then do up the top clamp
Then put the wheel spindle in (so the forks are parallel)
Then make sure the clamps are straight looking
Then tighten the lower ones

Ben

PS and try not to get too paranoid about whether they look straight, they probably didn't before the prang coz if the light is coming from one side they'll loook twisted (voice of experience there. After fitting my blade front end I'm sure its not straight even though measuring it confirms it is. I've just stopped looking now

)

Decon · Post by **Decon** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 9:53 pm

Ok it wasn't anything I was doing wrong. Or at least the front end being out wasn't from the way I put it back together. The triple tree is bent

So time to start looking for another one.

Thx for the info thou

thehazmatguy · Post by **thehazmatguy** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 6:49 pm

Decon wrote:Ok it wasn't anything I was doing wrong. Or at least the front end being out wasn't from the way I put it back together. The triple tree is bent

So time to start looking for another one.

Thx for the info thou

Um... why not just have it straightened? Hopefully there is someone near you that can do this? I had fork tubes and both triples straightend for not much $$$, I think under $90. It has been so long ago, I can't remember how much it was.