Steering/forks/bars bent?

Hey guys, I was wondering if you guys were experiencing the same "problem"? I've dropped the bike several times, once on the road and about 3 or 4 times on the dirt. Never particularly hard though. Each time the bars seemed to get turned to the left more and more. I installed new Pro Tapers thinking it was just the cheap steel stock ones but this didn't solve the problem. I've never had this on any of my YZs.

I did notice there are 2 bolts with Nylock nuts that hold on the clamps and I was thinking about loosening those and trying to realign the bars. The steering is absolutely stratight, the bars are just cocked to the left and I have a hard time believing I bent anything because the hits weren't really hard that it took. Was just wondering if you guys were experiencing this too? Thanks!!

Hmmm...can't say that it was an issue with mine. I know others who've bent their bars, or even snapped them. You could try to realign the bar clamps; quite possibly they might be a bit loose.

Loosen up the forks in the triple as well as the bars in the clamps. Then tighten everything back down. I crash a lot and spend a lot of time aligning everything.

trav72 wrote:

Loosen up the forks in the triple as well as the bars in the clamps. Then tighten everything back down. I crash a lot and spend a lot of time aligning everything.

+1, i've had to do this several times. I just loosen everything up, I stand in front of the bike facing towards the rear of the bike with the front wheel between my legs and just kind of push/pull the bars the opposite way things are tweaked and retighten everything. may have to do this twice to get everything aligned correctly again but it has worked for me.

trav72 wrote:

Loosen up the forks in the triple as well as the bars in the clamps. Then tighten everything back down. I crash a lot and spend a lot of time aligning everything.

Have you ever undone the nylock nuts under the bar clamps? (they face towards the ground) It seems like that's what's getting tweaked. I'm just really suprised how tweaked everything is from just dropping it a few times, never had that issue with my YZ but it's a different bike I suppose. Just mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one with this problem.

liftdt4r wrote:

Have you ever undone the nylock nuts under the bar clamps? (they face towards the ground) It seems like that's what's getting tweaked. I'm just really suprised how tweaked everything is from just dropping it a few times, never had that issue with my YZ but it's a different bike I suppose. Just mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one with this problem.

Yep those have come loose on me also. You have to remember that your WR is a "little" heavier than your YZ. When it falls, all of that weight is absorbed into the bars when they hit the ground. Since that's what usually hits first. The stock bars will usually bend (not always) but stronger after market bars will tweak or twist the front end when it hits the ground. I've had to bang the side of my front tire into a tree a few times to get everything back into alignment while on the trail. This has happened to other bikes I've had as well so it's not specific to the WRR.

trav72 wrote:

liftdt4r wrote:

Have you ever undone the nylock nuts under the bar clamps? (they face towards the ground) It seems like that's what's getting tweaked. I'm just really suprised how tweaked everything is from just dropping it a few times, never had that issue with my YZ but it's a different bike I suppose. Just mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one with this problem.

Yep those have come loose on me also. You have to remember that your WR is a "little" heavier than your YZ. When it falls, all of that weight is absorbed into the bars when they hit the ground. Since that's what usually hits first. The stock bars will usually bend (not always) but stronger after market bars will tweak or twist the front end when it hits the ground. I've had to bang the side of my front tire into a tree a few times to get everything back into alignment while on the trail. This has happened to other bikes I've had as well so it's not specific to the WRR.

Thanks bro, I guess I'm still getting used to the switch, I'm constantly looking for the kicker when I need to start the bike.

Where in NJ are you? I used to live in Piscataway and I still ride near there a lot. Also, if your down south you should check out the Pine Barrens 300, it's a little pricey but it's a great ride, I've had buddies that have been going for the last few years.

liftdt4r wrote:

Where in NJ are you? I used to live in Piscataway and I still ride near there a lot. Also, if your down south you should check out the Pine Barrens 300, it's a little pricey but it's a great ride, I've had buddies that have been going for the last few years.

I'm in S. Jersey. The PB300 is geared toward larger bikes. I'm not going to pay the high reg. fee to ride in areas I ride for free every weekend. I rode in the Meteor last summer and that was a pretty good ride. If I still had my V-strom or was riding a KTM Adv. or BMW GS I would probably enter the PB300.

trav72 wrote:

liftdt4r wrote:

Where in NJ are you? I used to live in Piscataway and I still ride near there a lot. Also, if your down south you should check out the Pine Barrens 300, it's a little pricey but it's a great ride, I've had buddies that have been going for the last few years.

I'm in S. Jersey. The PB300 is geared toward larger bikes. I'm not going to pay the high reg. fee to ride in areas I ride for free every weekend. I rode in the Meteor last summer and that was a pretty good ride. If I still had my V-strom or was riding a KTM Adv. or BMW GS I would probably enter the PB300.

Yeah, I hear ya, it wasn't cheap, but both my buddies that I graduated with have Beamers and are going so I figured it would be a good ride, plus I don't know the area at all. They told me there have been DRZs there in the past so I'm hoping I won't be the odd man out, but we'll see. I'll have to hit you up sometime when I'm in the area if you wanna ride.

Ohh, also wanted to ask, how bad is the sand down there? My buddies have told me it's like beach sand and that they fall alot. I'm hoping since I have a much lighter, more nimble bike that it won't be that bad. I'm just trying to get a feel for what I've gotten myself into. Thanks bro!

liftdt4r wrote:

Yeah, I hear ya, it wasn't cheap, but both my buddies that I graduated with have Beamers and are going so I figured it would be a good ride, plus I don't know the area at all. They told me there have been DRZs there in the past so I'm hoping I won't be the odd man out, but we'll see. I'll have to hit you up sometime when I'm in the area if you wanna ride.

No you won't be. A buddy of mine is riding in it on his KLX250(BB351 installed). It's just geared for big bikes because the route will be mostly 2 track and dirt roads. You'll have a good time. Anytime you're down in the area let me know and we'll ride. I get out almost every weekend.

liftdt4r wrote:

Ohh, also wanted to ask, how bad is the sand down there? My buddies have told me it's like beach sand and that they fall alot. I'm hoping since I have a much lighter, more nimble bike that it won't be that bad. I'm just trying to get a feel for what I've gotten myself into. Thanks bro!

You'll find some areas of deep sand for sure. Just remember, the throttle is your friend in the sand. Let the bike move under you and give it gas.

On my old KTM640SM those bolts holding the bar clamps used to bend, causing the bars to be cocked slightly one way and no amount of adjusting would get them straight. Genuine ones were about $30 each but I took an existing one to a bolt shop and picked up some new ones with the same markings on them for 75c. Not sure it the WR would do the same thing as I haven't crashed mine (technically the wifes) yet. Remove those bolts completely and just check if they are straight.

I had the same issue one time i looped my bike out. My mate told me to just loosen up all the clamps to your forks a little and bounce it up and down a coulpe of times. Be aware that if you loosen to much your likly to adjust the height of your forks. Anyway worked a treat for me.

Wow, what a relief to find this thread. Guess I'm not imagining it.

I had a very low speed tip over in soft mud on my WRX and the bars have never felt the same since. Street tires don't grip in mud! I had motocross bikes in the past, so I know things get twisted up there. This was such a low speed tip over/front wheel lowslide, I can't believe I twisted the forks. Everything looks straight, but the bars feel like they're hanging low to the right. A riding buddy helped me get things close a few days ago by just loosening the TOP triple clamp only, and hitting the front wheel a bit. I don't understand how loosening the top triple only could do the trick, but it did get them close.

It's still not perfect, so I'm going to give it another try. This is strange.

kingsquid wrote:

Wow, what a relief to finds this thread. Guess I'm not imagining it.

I had a very low speed tip over in soft mud on my WRX and the bars have never felt the same since. Street tires don't grip in mud! I had motocross bikes in the past, so I know things get twisted up there. This was such a low speed tip over/front wheel lowslide, I can't believe I twisted the forks. Everything looks straight, but the bars feel like they're hanging low to the right. A riding buddy helped me get things close a few days ago by just loosening the TOP triple clamp only, and hitting the front wheel a bit. I don't understand how loosening the top triple only could do the trick, but it did get them close.

It's still not perfect, so I'm going to give it another try. This is strange.

I loosen everything from the top triple clamp pinch bolts all the way down to the axle pinch bolts.

Thought I'd resurrect this 3 year old thread since I had the same issue. An easy fall in the grass after bouncing off a hidden rock. The handle bars went full stop. After riding away, I noticed that the handle bars and tree were VERY slightly tweaked to the right when going straight down the road. Wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking. I'm going to try loosing everything up and see if it straightens out.

I had a similar issue, I came around a corner while dirt riding and front wheel slipped out. Bike gently came down and took impact on stock bars with Zeta hand guards. For months I thought it was a bend steering head until I removed the stock bars and aligned it to a level surface. Turned out left side had a very small bend and unnoticed to the eye but man did it feel funny when riding. Replaced with aftermarket bar and all sorted.

Low_and_Slow wrote:

Thought I'd resurrect this 3 year old thread since I had the same issue. An easy fall in the grass after bouncing off a hidden rock. The handle bars went full stop. After riding away, I noticed that the handle bars and tree were VERY slightly tweaked to the right when going straight down the road. Wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking. I'm going to try loosing everything up and see if it straightens out.

If your bars are bent they can easily be straightened with a long pipe.  Myself and a friend did this on my WRR with great success.

And so the above is not the final word in this thread: the PB300 (PB500 this year) is an awesome event.  It's a ton of fun on a WRR and worth every penny: you will see parts of the pines you would never see unless you do the thousands of hours of research that Jack has done for you.

-morgan

I've never had this happen on my wrr yet but have on other bikes.

I was shown to hit the clamps against the steering stop by twisting on the bars kinda hard and fast in whichever direction the bars need to go to be straight, this works well mid ride as you dont have to get off the bike at all and it only takes a couple of seconds. I've never had to loosen anything to straighten things out.