Triple Tree Cocked To The Right...

Hello!

Last October, I installed a new inverted front end on my Train (Harley-Davidson Custom Inverted Gloss Black Front Fork Kit-48646-06A). This was not my first go around with front ends...or as a mechanic, did it professionally for years...

...All went well (or so it seemed), The bike tracks straight, no handling issues at all. The bars and risers are fine, everything is perfectly adjusted.

I get out on it after the winter this year, and damned if I don't notice that the triple tree(s) is off center when tracking straight. The tree is visibly tweaked to the right (clockwise) at what looks to be almost a half an inch. In short, I marked the center on the top tree to line it up to what I eyeballed and measure to be dead on straight ahead, put a mark at the center base of the tree and another right at the outside hollow of the stem, took it on the road, checked for the alignment of the marks; and sure enough...it verified that I am off.

Obviously, you can't see it when the bike is at rest...in fact it was a true pain to verify until I measured and marked it. Also, just to be clear...it absolutely isn't the bars, risers or riser bushings...it's definitely the tree that is tweaked.

I disassembled and reassembled the front end: from loosening the stem bolt and adjuster, right down to removing the wheel, re installing the axle, pulled the forks, re-torqued the pinch bolts...you get the idea, was very thorough.

The only thing I haven't done is loosen the tank to see if it;s possible that I put it back on a little tweaked when I did the extended wiring to the front end controls, as it was part of my reference point for measuring center for the tree while diagnosing this; it sure as hell could be a factor in the 'hopeful illusion' and a variable in the math being off. I am going to try adjusting the tank this afternoon.

What did I miss? It makes no sense at all to me and I could really use a fresh perspective. I may post some pics later, but I wanted to get it out there. I admit, as I know it tracks straight and handles like a dream...I feel like it's OCD, but the math doesn't lie...it's tweaked to the right.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Some pictures would help.

Here are two pics showing the triple tree location when the front wheel is dead on straight ahead (based on the measurement line location while riding). As you can see, it's tweaked just to the right visually. I'm just plain stumped. (*Note: I did not mess with moving the gas tank around as planned yesterday, so no update in that area...)

Look at the gas cap and fuel gauge in relation to the outside edge of the down tubes. IF you lined up photo good, the cap and gauge show the tank is off to the right. But after having my tank off I would be surprised at that.


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No never-mind I just looked again and I'm wrong about your tank. Photo is hard to use for alignment one picture makes the top triple clamp look to have stem off center which can't be.




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Hard to tell with the pictures but from where I sit with my bifocals it almost looks like the top triple tree is not perfectly aligned with the lower one. I could be wrong on this. Is your front wheel perfectly straight in this picture? I guess what I'd do in this case is to use a square or something to make sure the tubes are 90 degrees to the top and bottom trees. If you're out a bit at the top, you'll be out a lot more at the axle and if you're out 1/2 inch at the axle, which comes back to the bars, it would be quite a bit less than that from clamp to clamp. I just remember a friends bike having the bars off centre. just loosened the clamps slightly clamped the wheel on centre and centred the bars and tightened everything up. Just thinking out loud here. Good luck

Thank you both for your responses.

@ Fatboy128: I will try resetting the tank for now and see if that changes the visual on it. Thanks again for your feedback.

@ Sleepy: The front wheel is indeed straight in the pics. I will start getting measurements from up and down the forks and see where that takes me. Thanks again for your feedback.

The most difficult part of dealing with this is that it's off so little, and that nothing apparent is showing for the cause. I've done more than a handful of front end replacements...and they usually fall right into place without a ton of adjustments, especially when they are brand new. This one is just boggling me.

'Kinda looks like you just need to loosen the clamps and tweek the wheel until it looks 'right'. 'Just off slightly. Have someone follow you to see if it's tracking correctly. .Do it on a level surface like a parking lot..

To me, it's the risers that are slightly off and not the trees, as the handle bars appear to be tweaked. Loosen the riser bolts and tweak the handlebars to the left while somebody holds the wheel straight and retighten.

Good Morning,

Thank you everyone for you responses and feedback!

Here's the update:

After looking into and trying everything posted in response to my issue, (not to mention my attempts to resolve this prior to my post)...

...I broke down and brought it to the H-D shop on Thursday. I wanted a fresh set of eyes on it and figured that they had a bit more time and resources to just correct the issue so that I could move on from this.

Well...it turns out that this is a mix of OCD and optical illusion. Lol.

The shop did not try and convince me there was nothing wrong, which was a definite concern I had prior to bringing it in. In fact, they acknowledged that it looked off to the right to them as well. They took it out on the road, saw what I was seeing even though it handled just fine. They cranked out the measuring tools, lined up the front end on the lift, did their measurements from the axle all the way up to the bars...and everything showed spec and true. This is a case of a little optical illusion...and a lot of the usual perfectionism that goes with proud motorcycle owners. I admit it, I can expect way too much from my machine. Lol.

Bottom line, this is one of those things that I will just have to accept and ride on. (Easier said than done...but I think I'll manage if I just start keeping my eyes strictly on the road).

Thanks again to everyone, and have a great riding season!

As long as it rides like it should then you are good to go. There are small things here and there on my bike as well that don't line up "perfectly", but I have learned to live with them. Nobody else sees them. We are our own worst critics LOL.