unfortunate luck....bent forks xr650L, sigh

[flubber]

Howdy. Hows this for bad luck. A friend was showing me some hunting grounds near his home and we were on an old overgrown logging trail. The grass was about 1.5' high and there were a few hidden ruts. The ride in was fine but on the way out I was going very slow in first gear. The next thing I know I hit a hidden rut and dumped the bike. The handle bars turned left as I hit the ground. The stock magnesium alloy clutch lever snapped and I bent my forks. I rode the bike 16 miles home in 2nd gear. Can you believe the front rim is true but the forks bent? &%$#@!? Lesson learned; be prepared for anything, dont ride with the weak stock clutch and brake levers, don't ride without spare ones, and do something to strengthen the front forks. Although I don't really think a fork brace really would have done any good in this case.

Does anyone know of a reputable business that can straigten my forks for a reasonable fee?

Does anyone sell forks for this bike that a stronger than the stock ones? I don't care how much they would cost. I want this bike to be bulletproof. I still cant believe it.....5mph and bent forks ??

[snaggleXR650]

Are you sure the forks are not just tweaked in the clamps? Put the bike on a stand, loosen the upper and lower fork clamps, hold the front wheel in between your legs and realign the front wheel to the handlebars. Then just retighten the fork clamps.

If you really have bent forks, take a picture, b/c I don't believe you.

[HappyCurmudgeon]

I would say there is a better than average chance they just flexed in the triples, and didnt really bend. I say this from personnal experience. I did nearly the same thing to mine the first day i had it in the woods. Went to rear wheel "hop" across some log-skidder ruts, blew the wheelie and landed lips first on the other side with the front tire firmly embedded at a wicked angle in the opposite rut. I got it hauled out of the mudsoup, sat on it and whacked/pushed/reefed the front wheel against a tree a few times to get it straight enough to travel. When i got home I loosened up the triples, and wheel as stated above & retorqued everything after i ligned it all back up, good as new. (albeit muddier and my ego took a bruise)

It wont cost anything to try, i hope that is all it is.

[SniperTeamBravo]

It is probably just twisted in the tripples. Can you see the tubes are bent? Or are you judging by the fact the front wheel is no longer pointing streight in line with the rest of the bike? Either way, if they are actually bent, any motorcycle shop can streighten the tubes. Now, heres the good thing, any early 90s CR250 front forks are basically a bolt on for the XRRs and XRLs, and their far superior being USD Showas, and having compression, rebound, rebound speed, low and high speed compression damping adjustments!

[flubber]

My friend told me today too thats their probably tweaked in the tripples. I tought for sure they were bent. What a relief. I did straighten them as much as I could today but was unable to go for a ride. I'm waiting on some new clutch levers. My buddy who has been riding along time started laughing when I told him I bent my forks. He said theres no way they're bent. I feel alot better now knowing this isn't a weak link on my bike. The only weak link is me who can't stay off the throttle. But who wouldnt....this bike is a blast to ride!!

[snaggleXR650]

Forks are bendable, it's just that if you did really bend them, you probably wouldn't be here typing about it. Be careful out there...

[flubber]

Also, is there anything inside the forks that could have been damaged from this tweaking inside the tripples?

[ParticleMan]

Flubber, I dumped my L over the weekend on a ramp and thought I bent my forks also. Like others have suggested, get the wheel between your legs and grab the handle bars and bend it back. Not sure what slipped on mine, but I went over all the bolts on the forks and retorqued them, all is good now. ?

[JustDucki]

It is probably just twisted in the tripples. Can you see the tubes are bent? Or are you judging by the fact the front wheel is no longer pointing streight in line with the rest of the bike? Either way, if they are actually bent, any motorcycle shop can streighten the tubes. Now, heres the good thing, any early 90s CR250 front forks are basically a bolt on for the XRRs and XRLs, and their far superior being USD Showas, and having compression, rebound, rebound speed, low and high speed compression damping adjustments!

Are you sure about this??? I am ready to buy a pair of 94 Showa CR250 forks if this is true.. What years will fit? 90-95??

Please let me know..

this would be for my 99 600R

[flubber]

Yep, just looked at them again. Everything is now straight but something is binding inside the forks slightly. It never used to be like that. This sucks. There must be a proper procedure to set the alignment on the front suspension. I don't think loosening and setting the allingment with the wheel between your legs will put everything into perfect alignment. I'm not saying it hasn't worked for you but I want to teach myself the absolute best way to do things. I just read on a wesite somewhere that aligning the front suspension can be tricky and might take a few times to get it right. Thanks all for all the help, its much appreciated.

just found this.... http://www.w6rec.com/duane/bmw/fork/chapter2.html

[ghoti]

Check the slider that the brake line goes through to make sure that's not the binding you're feeling.

[SniperTeamBravo]

Are you sure about this??? I am ready to buy a pair of 94 Showa CR250 forks if this is true.. What years will fit? 90-95??

Please let me know..

this would be for my 99 600R

Im going by what Kubiak who is a master swapper said over on supermotojunkie.com go over there and He'll be able to tell ya exactly whats what. I think he said all the early years of USDs off the 250/500 CRs are a dirrct bolt on. I actually have seen that the brake calipers are the same between the XR,CR, and even the CRF. My relocator for my 320mm front rotor on my stupidmoto is fro a CRF450R and it works on the XR600R which is a 1996! I love Honda!

[flubber]

The front wheel is now straight but theres definately some sticktion goin on in those forks. Theyre tweaked for sure. Everyone do your self a favor and RUN out and buy a fork brace. This is gonna cost me.

[SniperTeamBravo]

The front wheel is now straight but theres definately some sticktion goin on in those forks. Theyre tweaked for sure. Everyone do your self a favor and RUN out and buy a fork brace. This is gonna cost me.

Nah, it wont be very expensive to have them streightened if they are bent, I still don't think they are. Here try this. Put the bike on a workstand or bike lift, loosen up all the tripple clamp pinch bolts but not loose enough for the tubes to fall out of, or slide up into the bars. Silde the tubes into the clamps flush to the top clamp top so the top of the fork tube is levbel with the top clamp uh top. Tighten the pinch bolts progressively in a cross pattern, but do not over tighten them. Ask someoen here for the torque on those bolts, when all is done Ill bet you have no stiction. I fell off on my TX650 and had the exact same problem, thought I bent the forks, did what I just describerd and WALLA! (sp) it was totally cured till I bailed again...which just happened to be the next day, anyway you know what I mean.

[flubber]

sniperteambravo, I did this to my bike last night. When I removed the front wheel and worked the shocks they did not stick like when everything is buttoned up. I need to go buy a piece of glass and see how parallel everything is as described on the website I listed on page one.

[SniperTeamBravo]

sniperteambravo, I did this to my bike last night. When I removed the front wheel and worked the shocks they did not stick like when everything is buttoned up. I need to go buy a piece of glass and see how parallel everything is as described on the website I listed on page one.

I think youll be allright...good luck let me know how it goes.

[flubber]

Is it possible to misalign the tripples? My forks are fine when theyre off the bike. I have them off again right now. It has to be in the tree somewhere but I dont know how the tree is put together since I've never had one apart. Is it possible to tweak the upper and lower trees?

[flubber]

Its amazing what a piece of glass can tell you. I laid the glass over my tubes with the tire off and guess what. My tubes or tube is slightly bent. You put the glass over the tubes and firmly hold the glass against just one tube. Then take your other hand and tap on the glass on the other side. When you here a dull click it means the glass is not touching in that spot. Firm click and its touching. Or in my case you can just rock the glass on the tubes like a table with one short leg. (or is my piece of glass warped, does anyone know how to check if a piece of glass is perfectly flat? J/K) Also my forks are bowed out at the bottom slightly. Time to get out the ratchet straps and two by fours and go at her. I'll let ya all know how it turns out.

[flubber]

I think I'm being to anal about this. Everything is probably fine. All I did so far was remove the forks and checked them off the bike, all ok here. No binding. It still feels like the suspension is binding when its buttoned up but I'm not totally sure. I cant remember if it was this sticky before the incident. All I do know is I'm goin in the house to drink some beer.....flubber

[tirebiter]

When you had the forks off, did you loosen the upper triple clamp nut?

Sometimes the clamps can get out of alignment with each other- loosen the big nut, put the forks back in & lighty tighten all the pinch bolts, then re-tighten the big nut. Loosen the pinch bolts back up, then re-torque them to spec.

To align the forks- put everything back together, but don't tighten the axle pinch bolts on the non-brake side. Get on the bike, hold the front brake & bounce the front end up & down vigorously. This aligns the forks.

Get off carefully and tighten the pinch bolts.

If you still have binding, try this.

Take the forks off and roll the upper fork legs on a flat surface. If it's bent, you'll see the deflection as it rolls. It'll be gap, hit, gap hit, etc.

My buddy bent his forks last month, sent them here for repair..

http://www.aftershocks-suspension.com/pages/contact.htm

Cost him about a 100 bucks for both.