How do you straighten the forks/handlebars on a ZXR?

[Brett]

I am working on my new bike. It has been dropped on the LHS front, and the steering is on the piss. At first I thought it would be the forks, but i am lucky and they seem to be straight as a whistle.
However, when the handle bars are straight, the wheel is off by a few degrees, and obviously when the wheel is straight the handle bars are off a few degrees (as if in a gentle LH turn).
How do you make sure that you have the correct alignment, and HOW do you adjust this? I am assuming that you undo the shocks so that they move a little bit, straighten everything up square and perpendicular and then tighten so that they are held in the proper place...or is this wrong?
Below is a photo of the issue, does't show it too clear though.

Also does anyone here have a spare crank case they wanna sell, this one has a small crack, and since the bike has only 19000kms I would like to replace it rather than weld it.

Any help would be awesome, I want to have i up and running this long weekend.

[Rumble]

Hey dude.. I met you at the auction... The guy with the other ZXR.

Is the crank case weld-able? if so I might be able to arrange something... give me a PM.

As far as the steering head / forks go... Usually you measure them.

[Warr]

Could be a good chance that the lower triple clamp is bent.
Try turning each tube with both upper and lower triple clamps loose the alignment may improve.
It is permissable for the forks to be slightly bent. That is where thay are approx 1mm out. This small amount is often not worth trying (or possible) to straighten.
But dont be surprised if the lower triple clamp is not straight and if it is you will need to replace it.

[Brett]

Thanks for that, yeah the forks seem to be really straight, cant pick ANYTHING up in them. I hadnt thought of the bottom tripple clamp, will go and play with that right now.

Cheers.

[figjam]

I am working on my new bike. It has been dropped on the LHS front, and the steering is on the piss. At first I thought it would be the forks, but i am lucky and they seem to be straight as a whistle.
However, when the handle bars are straight, the wheel is off by a few degrees, and obviously when the wheel is straight the handle bars are off a few degrees (as if in a gentle LH turn).

The wheel has twisted in the forks with the impact. You will have to loosen off the clamps, adjust it, take it for a ride to check and repeat as necessary. It can be a pain but it's nothing drastic.

[Big Dave]

Put the side of the wheel against something solid - like the corner of the house or a telegraph pole - and bend them back into line. not hard to do.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Depending on the material the bar is made from....you may want to get hold of a new one.

[sefer]

As suggested, but I'd also make sure you take the whole front apart and check for any obvious bends/cracks. I say this cause my 91 zxr was dropped before I brought it, but appeared to have suffered no (major) damage, but when I did the fork seals a few months later I discovered one of the hadle bar brackets/mounts had cracked right through round the back where it wasn't visible.

Was still nothing major but it would be a bit supprising to suddenly have your brake and throttle no longer attached to anything ;)

[FROSTY]

Start with the basics dude. Jack the front of the bike up a bit with a car jack--so the weight is almost off the front wheel.
loosen up all the fork mounting bolts. Loosen up the axle and axle clamps.
Then retighten it all.
What you need to do is make sure your points of reference themselves are straight.Id measure back to a point on the frame rather than the fairing or handlebars. Its a fairly safe bet you'll find one bar is slightly bent

[Brett]

Start with the basics dude. Jack the front of the bike up a bit with a car jack--so the weight is almost off the front wheel.
loosen up all the fork mounting bolts. Loosen up the axle and axle clamps.
Then retighten it all.
What you need to do is make sure your points of reference themselves are straight.Id measure back to a point on the frame rather than the fairing or handlebars. Its a fairly safe bet you'll find one bar is slightly bent

So far I have pulled everything off the front so as to leave only the head set,handle bars shocks, clamps and front wheel assembly on the front. I have been using a jack...found that out the stupid way when i was loosening the shock clamps and the whole thing started to drop...not easy holding the weight wth one hand and trying to set it even and tight again so as not to put uneven stress on the shocks....

Yeah the frame itself is what i am measuring off since it hasnt suffered damage anywhere.

When you say you are pretty confident one bar is bent...you mean the handle bars dont you? ( They have both been loosened and checked, and seem to be ok...but it may be an idea to replace the one just in case it aint happy on the inside...)

Also, not cracks or stress cracks or warping anywhere else on the bike...lucky.