Hi all! 1 year and 10,000 miles into my motorcycle riding career, and I've had my first crash. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long! Rain slick roads and a cobblestone crosswalk mid-curve conspired to put me on my side. No injuries, and although I was only going about 15-20mph when I fell, there was just enough force in the fall to knock my forks a bit out of alignment. The handlebars look fine (handguards did their job!), and the front wheel looks ok, but I've got to keep the bars turned ever so slightly to the right to go in a straight line. Sighting down the forks from the top, I can definitely tell that they've twisted a bit.

So, before I dive into this, I just wanted to touch base and make sure I'm going to approach the fix the right way ... is this as simple as just putting the bike up on a stand, loosening the clamps on the forks, and "re-seating" stuff? Do I need to do anything with the front axle? Is there anything else that I ought to be inspecting? I've gone over the bike, and aside from a little scraping on the handguards and the fork alignment, I don't see or feel anything wrong.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

You got it, you may have to put some pressure on the tire to get it strait or you may do it twice to get it strait again.

 

No, all you do is put the wheel between your knees and twist the bars until the fender is aligned with the tire. It happens all the time. In fact, the KLX seems very prone to this. Just about every crash I have, even the slow ones, I have to realign the bars to wheel.

 

I'd loosen the triple clamps but yes you can just put it between your knees and spring it the other way.

 

Agree^, can also put the wheel up against an (open) garage door side casing (or other door casing....heck, even a fencepost!) and twist on the bars until you're straight again. I used to do this all the time when I was a kid on the farm....

 

Thanks a lot ... was easy enough. I did have to loosen both the bottom and top clamps. I also discovered that the wrenches in the toolkit are total junk, imagine that.

 

Glad your ok, I know it was a slow crash, but always good to hear you got out safely with only minor damage.

You've had your freebie! No more crashing Mr!

 

Glad you made it through alright. Crashing in the woods is OK, not so good on the road. Done it a few times on the road, don't want to again. I've been very lucky.

As you noticed, stock tool kits leave a lot to be desired (at least with Kawi's).
I crash a bunch in the woods and while practicing, so having the stuff to fix it helps me keep riding. As a result, my tool bag is now bursting with little ratcheting wrenches in all the right sizes. And some important allen wrenches with the balled end for angled access(love that, very handy; not so good if the allen bolt is not in good condition).

However, that crappy screwdriver, which also came with my '91 EX-500, saved my butt after riding a stretch of CA Highway 36 back and forth a few times on my new EX...I shifted on the roller coaster road so much that the shift lever bolt backed out...after I got back up to 60mph on another stretch of country highway, doh!
I stuck that screwdriver in the lever bolt hole and wrapped a bunch of duct tape around the foot peg, crude but effective. Some friendly riders, that stopped to check on me, helped push me to get going, as I had been stuck in 6th gear.