Bent Forks

[Chickadee]

Hiya,

Had an impact with a car who entered a roundabout while I was already on it - the guy then slammed on he brakes with the result that I hit him...quite hard.

Got home and let McJim survey the damage - there was nothing visible at first but McJim has spotted that the stanchions are slightly bent - being steel he reckoned the bend may be slight enough that the fork integrity is still good and took the bike for a squirt to see that it still handled.

The front wheel now makes contact with the belly fairing under heavy braking but overall the handling is still good.

Is it possible to have the stanchions straightened? If so how much will that cost?

There is an RG150 front end currently on trade me with a buy now of $350 - a lot of the stuff on it I don't need (Wheel, Brake, triple clamps etc.)http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=81941799 how much would the fork legs cost through someone like Colemans?

I will call them (Colemans) tomorrow anyway but we need to budget for Christmas etc and it would be nice to know sooner rather than later what sort of financial damage we are looking at here.

Thanks in advance.

Chickadee/Mrs McJim

[NighthawkNZ]

Bummer and glad you are okay..

I personally wouldnt try and straighten them, as there is no guarentee the are perfectly straight and then there is a strength issue..

[Posh Tourer :P]

getting things like fork legs through a dealer will be an arm an a leg, or possibly two of each... Go get the front end then re-sell the other bits....

[Ixion]

Fork stanchions can be straightened provided they are not too bad. It's by no means uncommon. Should not cost very much. There are experts, (eg F1 Engineering in (I think) Hamihole), but for small bike forks any good jobbing engineering place could probably do them. I'm sure that someone here will have a contact.

Glad that you were not hurt, don't let it rattle your confidence.

[jonbuoy]

Make sure your frame isn't distorted before you buy the forks.

[McJim]

getting things like fork legs through a dealer will be an arm an a leg, or possibly two of each... Go get the front end then re-sell the other bits....

Funny - that's what I said when she got home. Who wants to buy an RG150 front wheel for $150?

Ixion - thanks for your words of support - I gave her a big hug when she got home - poor wee thing was crying from the fright but she still managed to ride home.

I'm awfie proud o' the wee lass.

[T.W.R]

If the wheel is hitting the belly pan under breaking then that's a pretty decent bend :yes: If there's any crease marks then they're fucked particularly is the crease or bend is within the stroke zone of the suspension travel.

If there's crease marks then the structural integrity of the inner tube is fractured & if straightened they'll just snap like carrots

[McJim]

Make sure your frame isn't distorted before you buy the forks.

First thing I checked after I heard the nature of the impact - no flaking paint around steerer therefore little or no distortion - it's a steel frame anyway so should maintain a high percentage of tensile strength even if bent a little.

[blacksheep]

got my forks straightened for $30 on my gsx250 by local eng firm,just get them to have a look they will soon say wether they are f**cked or not

[Sketchy_Racer]

It dont take much to get the RG front wheel to hit the fairing.... I've seen race RG150s do it under really bumpy braking areas....

Pull them out, and any bugger with a press and a needle micrometer will be able to straighen them more than enough ;)

[Turtle]

Sounds like they should be repairable........Ive done heaps of them....a good hydraulic press some blocks of wood and a straight edge.Half an hour at any engineering shop should sort it.

[McJim]

It dont take much to get the RG front wheel to hit the fairing.... I've seen race RG150s do it under really bumpy braking areas....

Pull them out, and any bugger with a press and a needle micrometer will be able to straighen them more than enough ;)

Yeah, the clearance BEFORE the incident wasn't huge - I think at most the axle is 3mm further back...will grab the camera and post a photo.

The REALLY bad news is that she has bruised her ribs...and the insides of her thighs!

Guess that leaves me with one option over the festive season :tugger: :(

[Sketchy_Racer]

haha only 3mm... damn you'll get way more than that just normally braking..!!

But still, get them fixxed :)

[Ixion]

Just occured to me. If the accident was the other person's fault, have they admitted liability? And will they (or their insurance) pay for the damage? In which case, don't mess about, just whip it round to the dealer, get a quote to fix it better than new, and slap it on the guilty party.

[Chickadee]

McJim has taken photos and I've attached them.

He says there's no visible creases but the bend occurs at the lower trile clamp anyway so difficult to see without removing the forks.

I await comments from the experts.

If they can be straightened what kind of engineer are we looking for (i.e. what will they call themselves in the yellow pages)?

Thanks.

[Ixion]

I'd be very surprised if they were not straightenable . Just a general engineering firm. Someone here will hopefully suggest a name, other wise just look for general engineers, or engine reconditioners. Just ring round find one who doesn't respond "wotcha talkin aboot,Willis" when you ask about straightening motorcycle forks. Bike shop might do them also. Try Spectrum, or Corsa, maybe.

Just needs a place with a decent hydraulic press. I've straightened 'em myself in the past using a truck hydraulic jack , under the house. Course, you do have to be carefull the house doesn't fall down. Though it might cost $50 or so, so if you can get a second hand pair of forks cheaper, might be easier. Of course, if the errant cager is going to pay ????

[xwhatsit]

I did mine myself at a place down in the industrial area of Onehunga, but I'm fucked if I can remember the name! I know vaguely where it is, though. If I had my bike I'd go take a look. I did it for free; I noticed this particular general engineering shop had a Harley inside, engine out, working on the frame and massively raked front forks. I wandered in inside and chatted to the guy about his bike then asked if I could be a pain in the arse and borrow his hydraulic press for half an hour -- I told him I'd give him $20 for some beer if he liked. He told me, nah, go ahead, fellow biker! Did it using a straight rule, some timber offcuts I found lying around, and the press. The bend was minor, but it's perfect now, when I rolled it afterwards it was spot on, couldn't pick up any irregularities.

It's very easy to do, get that McJim of yours to do it for you -- being Scots, I'm sure he'd love to save money by doing it himself ;). I googled thoroughly before attempting mine to work out how to do it, can't remember name of site, but it is very easy, and your bend doesn't look too bad (but worse than mine by far). Just be careful not to overshoot and bend the other way, because that becomes a real pain in the arse, and it's not good for the steel either.

[oldguy]

Glad to hear your OK, try Mt Eden Motorcycles.

[McJim]

A solution has been found. We chained the back of the frame to a tree and then set up a ratchet pulley to the forks. We then tightened the pulley until the front forks straightened up.

Not quite straight at the moment but no longer destroys the fairing when you slam on the anchors. Will suffice while we save up for new forks.

Many thanks to our neighbour across the road who came up with this imaginative solution.

[blacksheep]

yah rough buggers!

[Ixion]

Me great grandfather Ikey Mctavish (he who was tragically mothed to death) would be proud of you. If it works, it's all good I always say.

[andrea]

Hiya,

Had an impact with a car who entered a roundabout while I was already on it - the guy then slammed on he brakes with the result that I hit him...quite hard.

Got home and let McJim survey the damage - there was nothing visible at first but McJim has spotted that the stanchions are slightly bent - being steel he reckoned the bend may be slight enough that the fork integrity is still good and took the bike for a squirt to see that it still handled.

The front wheel now makes contact with the belly fairing under heavy braking but overall the handling is still good.

Is it possible to have the stanchions straightened? If so how much will that cost?

There is an RG150 front end currently on trade me with a buy now of $350 - a lot of the stuff on it I don't need (Wheel, Brake, triple clamps etc.)http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=81941799 how much would the fork legs cost through someone like Colemans?

I will call them (Colemans) tomorrow anyway but we need to budget for Christmas etc and it would be nice to know sooner rather than later what sort of financial damage we are looking at here.

Thanks in advance.

Chickadee/Mrs McJim

the offers still up girl, we can go to this guys house and ill do acouple of burnouts on his testicles with the 600, and we'll get the money off him to pay for the damage to ya bike

[McJim]

the offers still up girl, we can go to this guys house and ill do acouple of burnouts on his testicles with the 600, and we'll get the money off him to pay for the damage to ya bike

Many thanks for your gentle offer. However, in the interests of the wellbeing of future motorcyclists I had a very civilised conversation with the gentleman over a cup of tea at his home where I asked his preference for dealing with the situation - Insurance or settlement - he agreed to a cash settlement - it now falls to us to find a way to repair the damage within the budget given.

Also he now goes on his way watching out for motorcyclists AND considers us to be a darned polite and patient subset of the population.

Hopefully a happy conclusion for all.

[FROSTY]

was it the rgv150 fork staunchen you jammed up his #$#$ first that quietened him down??

[xwhatsit]

Many thanks for your gentle offer. However, in the interests of the wellbeing of future motorcyclists I had a very civilised conversation with the gentleman over a cup of tea at his home where I asked his preference for dealing with the situation - Insurance or settlement - he agreed to a cash settlement - it now falls to us to find a way to repair the damage within the budget given.

Also he now goes on his way watching out for motorcyclists AND considers us to be a darned polite and patient subset of the population.

Hopefully a happy conclusion for all.

Yeah, well sounds a good way for everything to be sorted out. Testicle burnouts are a lot of fun, I must admit, but those kind of games tend to encourage a slight amount of resentment and anger -- not necessarily improving relations for (as you noted) future motorcyclists who may come into contact with these guys.

BTW, huge ups for that innovative method of repair! If I ever want a larger-wheelbase bike, I'll consider that technique ;).

[Kwaka14]

Try RG Harris in Glen Eden, they build race cars and have all the gear required to straighten pretty much anything..... Not sure what it's cost you...

[classic zed]

Many thanks for your gentle offer. However, in the interests of the wellbeing of future motorcyclists I had a very civilised conversation with the gentleman over a cup of tea at his home where I asked his preference for dealing with the situation - Insurance or settlement - he agreed to a cash settlement - it now falls to us to find a way to repair the damage within the budget given.

Also he now goes on his way watching out for motorcyclists AND considers us to be a darned polite and patient subset of the population.

Hopefully a happy conclusion for all.

Its not really up to you to repair things within his budget, its up to him to pay for the damage he caused. A cheap repair might compromise the bike long term.

[McJim]

Okay,

New forks have been obtained - I understand how to dismantle the front end except for one interesting bit - How do I get the front of the bike off the ground? :rofl:

Will keep you posted as to how I progress.

New front end came with a spare front brake set up which is damned handy since we were going to have to grind the front rotor and relace the pads at some point soon - new rotor is pretty much mint.

thanks for everyone's help.

Jamie and Christine.

[TLDV8]

You could try the tie downs off the garage rafter to lift the front of the RG.
It might be worth putting fresh oil in the replacement forks while you have the change...fwiw

[El Dopa]

How do I get the front of the bike off the ground? :rofl:



Rope over a handy rafter in your gargre, or (I think) a car jack under the engine sump, avoiding the exhaust headers/collector. Or both.

Hopefuly someone will tell us if I'm wrong.