Bike Frame Straighteners

[Andymx5]

Hello,

Anyone know a place near Reading that will straighten frames and forks. Had an off ages ago now but I'm getting concerned at how much better my bike is at turning one way than the other!

Cheers, Andy.

[Steve_T]

You can do a rough alignment check yourself. Get a mate sat on your bike, keeping it upright. Then get a pair of straight edges a bit longer than your bike and place them in contact with the edges of the rear tyre on each side, so there's a gap on either side of the front tyre. Then eyeball the gaps on each side. Apparently aluminium extrusions used to make office wall partitions are a good straight edge to get hold of.

Steve.

[Andymx5]

That's a good idea, thanks Do you have a cunning way to tell if it's too short as well? I swear my wheel never used to be this close to the radiator

[bimsb6]

oh dear ,that sounds like a front end strip down to looky see if the bottom yoke is bent .

[bennyboysvuk]

The only place I've ever used is Maidstone Motoliner at www.motoliner.com They've always been very helpful for me.

Not 5 minutes down the road, but not a million miles away either.

[Steve_T]

bimsb6 said:

oh dear ,that sounds like a front end strip down to looky see if the bottom yoke is bent .

For fork legs, disassemble your forks and clamp the bottom of a leg in a vice (this end is designed to take clamping forces, but use soft jaws so's not to mark it up). Get a bit of rope and loop it a couple of times round the leg, then use the rope to spin the leg and cast your eye down the edge of the leg. If it's bent you'll see the edge of the leg moving around as it turns. Unfortunately I found this out too late when I bought my R1 forks for my project, but if you do need advice on what can be done and costs, I recommend K-tech - good prices and both helpful and knowledgeable.

Steve.

[Andymx5]

Thanks guys Just need to wait until the weekend as it's too dark when I get home! Then I can dismantle that front end.

I have a bad feeling that it's probably frame,yoke and forks that are fubar.

Cheers, Andy.