Need some help figuring out potential best/worst case damage scenario

[MikeV]

Basketball pole came down during Sandy. Skitted between the car and the van and smacked my back tire of the bike. Bike went to the right and smacked my car with the top case (seahorse 720 on a ktmduals rack) and put a hole in my motorcycle cover.

Sidebar: Highly recommend the seahorse and ktmduals rack neither was damaged but the case put a nice hole in my car. Sturdy as hell rack and case.

After it hit the car; it hit the driveway with the bars locked to the left. Bent the handle bar, scuffed up the mirror, bent my rear brake lever, gouged out my pivot cover, cracked my power bronze windshield, scuffed up a silver fairing and scuffed up my ktm handguards, looks like minor condensation in the sight glass also and cracked a reflector. she was on her side about 30 minutes. I braved wind and rain to get her upright and into an even more sheltered area. Sadly I had no time to get my bike to a more secure location due to travel and family issues.

Nothing major I thought to myself after doing a quick assessment. I need to get on it to check it out though. Fast forward after a weekends worth of cleanup at home and work to election day. I get home early and get my gear on to test the bike out. The front kept tracking left a bit and the forks feel like they dive when leaning left. I almost lost it while making some left hand turns at low speed due to the flaky feeling front. Thank goodness my polling place is about 1 mile down the road.

I know what the visual cosmetic damage is but what could be causing the strange behavior? I'm waiting till the adjuster gets pictures of the damage so they can start tearing my Versys apart but I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for what could be wrong. I'm really hoping its not too bad but I like to mentally prepare for the worst.

Any thoughts my friends?

[Mt. Versuvius]

Sounds like the forks might have got tweaked. Try loosening the triple clamps and retightening, might straighten er out. Good luck.

[fasteddiecopeman]

Originally Posted by Mt. Versuvius

Sounds like the forks might have got tweaked. Try loosening the triple clamps and retightening, might straighten er out. Good luck.

And then try an old dirt-bike tip: get your front wheel up against a pole and then force your handlebars HARD right (or left), and that can usually straighten things up.


And DON'T loosen BOTH the upper and lower triples at the same time!