10-4 on the vampire shift. I'm the night guy for a 24/7 trucking company and get frequent flak about the neccessity of getting back to my coffin before sunrise (!)
I had a similar problem with my '95, but with complications. Some troubleshooting tips from Dennis Hammerl (the fluorescent tube alignment guy) helped identify it. Too bad he's not around anymore. The guy knows his stuff. Wish I could tell ya the solution is quick and easy, but it's not. Fork tubes are relatively fragile, meaning easily bent, especially below the lower fork pinch clamp. Testing for that involves supporting the bike so that the front wheel just barely touches the ground, loosening upper and lower pinch bolts and twisting both tubes by hand, to see if either of them bind in their clamps. That would indicate a tube that's bent above the lower clamp. If that's inconclusive, remove the wheel and repeat the exercise, looking for off-center movement of the lower part of the tubes and/or the clamps, indicating a bend in the tube below the lower clamp. Kinda like you would roll a billiard cue across a table to see if it's warped. A further test is to remove the fork legs entirely and compare the tubes against a known straight edge. I used a steel carpenter's square. Mine turned out to be complicated by a missing axle spacer, bent forks, triple tree clamps AND the steering head, clues that the bike took a hit severe enuf to bugger all that up, although none of the damage was immediately visible. I had bought the bike during a driving rain, so did not test ride it first. My bad, and I wish I had. When I did finally ride it, it steered steadily left and had the same hard left turn issue you are describing (thanks to the missing spacer, compliments of the PO.) Subsequent inspection, particularly paint flaked off the frame around the steering head confirmed the extent of the damage. Hopefully, yours is not that severe. It doesn't sound like it is, since the bike tracks straight. But those are just a few suggestions to help narrow down the problem. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en.
