Hey Guys, wondering if anyone has any ideas on this at all; I am down right stumped now. First off for background, I am 6'4" and use the FE501 as my woods bike; so I hustle that thing around well and we ride some pretty terrible terrain in WA woods. But after every ride my upper clamp is skewed to the right; using the radiator as a baseline for 'straight.' So basically after every ride I am having to re-adjust the upper clamp after; I always use the torque specs in the manual on upper and lower clamp as well as the stem....additionally the bike is not getting dumped either. Recently I have even decided to put an extra 2 lbs of clamping force for the stem nut and the upper clamp (I asked factory connection first) and the problem still exists. Anyone have any ideas? It's not the bars, I have scrutinized that to the ends of the earth..... Soooooooo, HELP please Dave
Are you making sure the forks are parallel from the axle up when you torque the triple clamp bolts? If not: Loosen right side axle pinch bolts and lower triple clamp pinch bolts then bounce the front wheel against a wall without touching the front brake. When you compress the suspension the forks should float on the axle and align parallel. Now without disturbing the alignment tighten the lower triple clamp bolts and the pinch bolts on the axle. If the lower right fork doesn't slide easily on the axle clean it and de-burr it until it does otherwise it will not align. This should be done every time the axle is removed or the bike is crashed where the front end gets torqued sideways. It will reduce stiction in the forks and reduce wear on the bushings, fork tubes and seals.
Thanks Doug. I have taken the steps you mention above and outlined in granular format below, please advise if steps are accurate 1) Loosen brake side axle pinch bolts 2) Loosen lower triple clamps on both sides 3) Place wheel on wall and compress forks - cycling 3 times - do not use front brake 4) Do not move bike, working cautiously, tighten bolts in following sequence - Both lower triple clamps - Brake side axle bolts I have typically perform this to get alignment in the wheel with clamp and gotten the bike to run straight. Normally after riding, my bars are shifted to the right and this happens in the first hour or so......I have not had this problem with other bikes in the past.
All the bikes I own I loosen the throttle side pinch bolts because it's the side that floats on the big end of the axle, the side with the nut that adjusts the wheel bearing preload is on the brake side I do not loosen. Maybe your bike is opposite of that? Another thing that can cause your bar problem is the bolt or stud that holds the lower bar clamp to the triple clamp could be slightly bent. Take them both out and compare side by side to make sure they are perfectly straight.
I will head to the shop and re-align everything from the axle up. The problem which exists is not at the bard, this issue has occurred since I rolled the bike off the showroom floor. I will however double check the bolts to rule it out. To reiterate, the issue is from the top of the triple clamp and down from there.
Hi there, does anyone maybe have a picture of where/what section this is? "bolt or stud that holds the lower bar clamp to the triple clamp could be slightly bent"
