[Bloke_007]

If Someone Could Help Me Here Please.
Mine Is An Electra And I Am Faced With A Seemingly Tricky Problem.
A Few Weeks Ago I Was On My Bike Waiting At A Signal, When The Front Wheel Was Struck By Car Passing Across The Front. It Made The Wheel Bang To Its Left, After Which There Was A Misalignment Between Handle And Wheel. I Took It To A Mechanic Who Said The Fork Was Bent So Would Have To Be Corrected. But Even After I Got It Back After Correction, I Found The Misalignment Still Present. So I Myself Took It To The Place Where They Straighten Bike Forks And The Guy Told Me There Was A Slight Bent And He Corrected It. But Even After That I Wasn't Satisfied. I Got A Brand New Handle Fitted But Could Still Clearly See That The Handle Was Not Aligned With The Wheel. I'm So Confused As To What Exactly what the Fault could be

[JVS]

So when you ride, you can see the handlebar/headlamp facing right whilst it's tracking straight?

In hits like these, the casquette/nacelle or the steering stem can get tweaked. What you will need to do now is to loosen the fork pinch bolts, then the steering stem lock nut (the big 30mm one below the speedometer) and especially the hex lock nut below the handlebar clamp (over the front tank).

After this, you will probably need to stand in front of the bike with the tyre in between your legs facing straight and then grab on the handlebar with both your hands and try to force the bar in the opposite direction of the misalignment. After you think the misalignment is gone, then you can tighten both the pinch bolts, the headlamp casing bolt. But be very careful when you tighten the stem lock nut: It only needs slight adjustment as it puts pressure on the steering head bearings. Tighten only to remove the play from the steering. Or try to remember how much you loosened the stem locknut somehow.

[Bloke_007]

Oh thanks - but Im surprised thats the only way to do it. Coz manual adjustment may not be clinically precise so is there another way I can rectify it and restore it to exactly the way it was before the hit ? Is there a part that can be replaced to make the correction ?

[JVS]

You can get it pretty much perfect manually, I don't think there's another way for us laymen, unless you want to use lasers to align things.

An external force has caused it to misalign, and now you have to apply your own external force to get it in place I guess. It should align properly if things are not bent (such as your steering stem, forks or even frame).

[Bloke_007]

thanks indeed - i will get my mech to try it

[malky]

thanks indeed - i will get my mech to try it

Also get your mechanic to check that the front and rear wheels align on the vertical. If you get the rear wheel sitting plumb on a flat surface, with the front wheel in the straight ahead position, it should match. You can check the front to back wheel alignment with a simple household laser in a dark environment with a good level floor. Also, and apologies if I'm stating the obvious, but check that the front fender is sitting in line, and that's not throwing you off.

[Bloke_007]

yes thanks , Good one Malky - I got it

[Kevin Mahoney]

How sure are you it was perfectly straight before the accident? There are very few RE's that have perfectly straight frames to begin with

[longstrokeclassic]

+1
It's taken me a long time to get everything as it should be.

[cyrusb]

   The front axle is bent. Happens all the time.   Examine it carefully, the bend will be very slight, but continue that almost indiscernible bend all the way to the top  crown and its quite large. Like I said earlier the bend of the axle that causes the misalignment is hard to notice sometimes without a dial indicator. KEVIN, "so very few Enfields have strait frames" ?Really?

[cyrusb]

Bump. So what happened to this guy? Is he in a permanent right turn? No one learns anything when there is no final report on the resolution.