What is bent here?!

[HoboHighlander]

Hey folks,

Had a little spill a while back and finally trying to get the bike back in shape for some cooler temps and thus more riding.

 

I was cruising down a fire road and laid it down at maybe 20 mph, but enough force to obliterate the turn signal and even shear off my Pivot Pegz (great customer service there though, they warrantied it promptly). Barkbuster slammed pretty hard and bars seem pretty far out of alignment.

 

I'm trying to determine what is going on...I've tried resetting the forks but maybe I didn't do the procedure properly. Or perhaps the bars are bent? Can risers be bent? Something doesn't look right here; you can see how the right side of the bar is significantly lower than the left (in relation to the fork bleed valves).

 

Any help/thoughts would be much appreciated!!

[S.Ga.Rider]

How did you "reset" the bars? Ive had to loosen the pinch bolts on the forks on other bikes to get the bars back inline. Just dont loosen them too much. Any chance you bent it?

[HoboHighlander]

I did the lower fork clamp bolts and the axle but didn't realize I should also loosen that center nut (which requires removing the risers, ugh), fender mounts and brake calipers as well. That'll be my next effort.

 

It's possible I've bent the bars; I suppose the only way to check that is completely remove everything (also ugh).

 

Just thought I'd post here and see if anyone was like "oh yeah, those bars are definitely bent" or something.

[Alan M]

Sounds like you set the wheel/fork alignment correctly, you don’t slacken the headstock bearings to do this.

 

Hard to tell from the picture but best guess is you’ve bent the bars.

[Hibobb]

Looks minor, after a week or two you get used to it and you won't think about it anymore....

[Eight4]

It looks like you have a slight twist in the bar mount. Pull it out and place it upside down on a nice flat surface. If it is twisted it will not sit flat on both bar mount surfaces.

[Rider 101]

loosen the bar clamps in the top triple clamp. Loosen the bar clamps. Line everything up and then tighten. The bar clamps that are fitted into the top triple clamp may be slightly twisted

[Buggy Nate]

The bar risers themselves are probably permanently bent as they have a brace joining them. I’d be replacing them as a start. Bars are easy to take off and place on a flat surface to check their straightness.

[Ray Ride4life]

I had bent bars when i bought him, got new under warranty and after 4,5 months waiting for the new bars it took me 1,5 month to have it bent again.
Now i have Renthal Fatbars.

[yaman]

on my bike I had similar problem several times on both sides. It was always after slow speed crash and solution was always to smack the bars against steering lock. I think it has something to do with default yamaha bar risers being pretty tall.

[HoboHighlander]

Okay, thanks for the feedback all!

 

@Buggy Nate It does seem to me like the risers themselves are somehow bent/twisted, which I thought was improbable because they seem like a pretty solid chunk of metal but . I did try loosening them with the 17mm nut underneath and trying to line them back up but that didn't do much if anything so maybe they and/or the bars are actually bent. You make it sound trivial to pop the bars off and check if they're bent but first I'm going to have to figure out how to undo the right side Barkbuster mount (the force of the crash seems to have caused that bolt to seize...maybe take it to someone with an impact wrench?) and then have to remove all them, the controls and the Atlas. Seems like a big project at the pace I work 

 

@Hibobb I know it looks minor in the photo but it is significant enough that when I'm leaning into a corner it just doesn't feel right. Maybe I'd get used to it though...

 

@Ray Ride4life Are the Renthals much stronger? Coming from the MTB world they were always a popular choice. If I find my bars are indeed bent, perhaps I'll upgrade to those.

 

Thanks again for your thoughts everyone. I haven't been riding as much lately so haven't been trolling the forums like I used to but am continually amazed at how great the T7 community is here!

 

 

[Ray Ride4life]

46 minutes ago, HoboHighlander said:

Are the Renthals much stronger?

Didn't test it yet but i think yes.

Thicker wall and stronger aluminium what i can make of it.

[Hollybrook]

If the risers are bent, the bolts should probably be replaced as well.