Wheels out of alignment?

[laraza]

Just put my R3T through it's MOT (test of roadworthiness we have to have done every year in UK) and the tester said that the wheels are slightly out of alignment. He then went on to say that every Rocket, and some Guzzi's and BMW's, seem to have this and that it's not a fail and doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on anything.

Out of curiosity I just phoned Triumph and spoke to their technical dept, who were as much help as a chocolate teapot, and said that yes some bikes wheels have this misalignment built in but he couldn't say which ones or why.

Anyone shed any light on this? just out of interest really as the bike handles and behave as it should...................or does it?

 

[Dennsell]

Just put my R3T through it's MOT (test of roadworthiness we have to have done every year in UK) and the tester said that the wheels are slightly out of alignment. He then went on to say that every Rocket, and some Guzzi's and BMW's, seem to have this and that it's not a fail and doesn't seem to have any adverse effect on anything.

Out of curiosity I just phoned Triumph and spoke to their technical dept, who were as much help as a chocolate teapot, and said that yes some bikes wheels have this misalignment built in but he couldn't say which ones or why.

Anyone shed any light on this? just out of interest really as the bike handles and behave as it should...................or does it?

As the motor forms a large part of the lower frame it doesn't surprise me that slight misaligment is possible.
Just out of curiousity how did the MOT tester come to the conclusion your is out ??
I think you would need a fancy true alignent Jig to determine any alignment anomaly..

 

[laraza]

As the motor forms a large part of the lower frame it doesn't surprise me that slight misaligment is possible.
Just out of curiousity how did the MOT tester come to the conclusion your is out ??
I think you would need a fancy true alignent Jig to determine any alignment anomaly..

He used some sort of laser thingyme

 

[HansO]

He used some sort of laser thingyme

Lazer........Watch the bike doesn't fall in half

 

[laraza]

Lazer........Watch the bike doesn't fall in half

Crap! better sell it and get one of those scootery looking Honda's

 

[CanberraR3]

Ah, the laser thingyme.
I used to ride a TS 250 when I was a kid. Had a bent frame and you could see that the front wheel ran in line with the left side of the rear tyre but you couldn't notice anything odd in the handling. Well a bunch of 16 year olds couldn't. I would imagine any misalignment on your bike would be so small you'd need a ...... yes....... a laser thingyme to detect it.

 

[hogweed]

out

dont worry about it ,i had two vmaxii and it was a common problem with them as well.

 

[bruce aussie]

Back in the early 80's I had a Kwaka 1000 that handled like it had a big hinge in the middle of it from new. I had to make sure the wheels were in perfect alighnment with 2 string lines after every chain adjustment or tyre change. This along with the right tyre choice, Marzocci shocks, braced and shimed swing arm, extra gussets in the frame, exact air pressures in the forks and riding it with the firm beleif that if in doubt accelerate made noticable difference but it was still teriffying. Iv'e come to the conclusion that it don't matter much wich way the wheels are pointing a good handling bike will handle good and a bad handling bike will make your arse grab the seat.

 

[Battersea]

The Harley Softails have always been built with wheel offset, its in the workshop manual - approx 3/4" if I remember right.

 

[HansO]

Back in the early 80's I had a Kwaka 1000 that handled like it had a big hinge in the middle of it from new. I had to make sure the wheels were in perfect alighnment with 2 string lines after every chain adjustment or tyre change. This along with the right tyre choice, Marzocci shocks, braced and shimed swing arm, extra gussets in the frame, exact air pressures in the forks and riding it with the firm beleif that if in doubt accelerate made noticable difference but it was still teriffying. Iv'e come to the conclusion that it don't matter much wich way the wheels are pointing a good handling bike will handle good and a bad handling bike will make your arse grab the seat.

I owned a Z1 900 jaffa and I am sure they used Silly Putty in making the steering head they released a brace kit later as guys were throwing down the road to often lost a couple of mate and had a couple of scary tankslapers myself at up over the old ton (100mph) yup taught me a thing or two next bike was a Laverda Jota 180 degree crank (wish I still owned it), it was like chalk an cheese the Jota would go through corners at near twice the speed of the Z1 and hold a steady line