ok I bought the bike used and the alignment seemed fine. this was my first bike so i didn't pay attention to the rear wheel alignment marks when i got it. All suspension was set at factory to my knowledge. Since then i've changed my suspension settings alot and I noticed a little while back that my handlebars are slightly turned to the right while I'm riding down the road. When I release the bars it usually wants to go staight down the road. My front tire was pretty warn before so I thought that when I put a new set on it would fix it, well it didn't. the rear tire seems to track fine, the rear axel is aligned according to the marks on the swing arm. the front suspension is set equal on both forks, acording to the clicks and the adjustment marks for the preload(height adjustment only for my bike) are set the same. I'm clueless on what to do next. I've tried adjusting the rear wheel to make the bars straight, but when i do, the rear wheel is almost scraping against the chain guard and nowhere centered in the swingarm. The bike has never been wrecked, but it has fallen over a few times. I'm clueless on what to do next or what the problem would even be and I don't want to ruin another set of tires.

 

You can not fully rely on the marks on your swing arm to align the rear tire properly. I use this tool. http://www.sprocketcenter.com/p/1037...ment-tool.html
It is simple and does not cost a arm and a leg. There are laser alignment tools out there as well.

The front wheel being turned, check and make sure that your fork tubes are even, if one is higher then the other it will mess up the front. Measure them from a level spot or measure the amount between the bottom of the triple tree and the axel

 

and after all that, check to see if your clip ons are adjusted properly. mabey the bars are crooked and the bike is straight. you did mention if fell over a few times and thats usually a spot that takes the hardest hit.

 

[sm=exactly.gif] I would actualy check that first.

 

no, check it last, it builds good character [sm=happy046.gif]

 

true[sm=groupwave.gif]

 

It's not the clip ons b/c you can see the whole fork assembly turned to the right. I measured the fork length to make sure they were equal. How does the laser tool work?

 

ok then do this. loosen up the tripple trees and see if one of your fork tubes is twisted in the trees, it will sometimes give the effect the forks are bent when they are twisted. sometimes hards hits from learning how to wheelie will cause a little twisting.

 

The same way the cheaper one does except it uses a pretty red light instead of the fixed steel rod. All you are doing is aligning the sprocket; which is attached to your rear wheel, with the chain by using the adjustment screws on you swing arm. You would think the lines on your swing arm would be enough but once you attach the tool and sight down it you see how far off you are and how little you need to adjust to get it on the money.

Did your forks measure evenly and do not forget what evil said about the clip-ons being out of adjustment.

 

and if you have some strong rafters in the garage and some tiedown, you have the perfect set up to check this, basically suspend the front end from the top tree and get the tire off the ground about an inch and losen all the bolts, make your adjustments and lower the bike so the fors assenbly isnt hanging but the weight of the bike is not on it and tighten the tree nuts back up.