I guess it was inevitable really....

[Buz]

It happened this morning, dark grey foggy morning, I mis judged the new junction and the next thing I know is i'm on the ground, opposite side of the road on the pavement, only a slow speed off but one all the same....
Question I now have is, how do I re-align the bars on the 650GS (09 plate) I think the brake lever etc has just turned and can be loosened and adjusted, mirror may need replacing, seems a bit loose at the moment but its the handle bars that are concerning me. Is there a large nut under the BMW logo in the middle of the handle bars that is used? or is it more involved than that and needs dealers attention. As you have probaby guessed i've never messed with bikes other than the push type!
Other than that the rest of the bike seems ok at the moment, further investigations in the daylight may prove me wrong of course!

 

[Shep]

Sorry to hear about your off, i hope all goes well.

Take care

Shep

ps Kitchens almost finished

 

[Gs-ell]

now then

sorry to hear of your accident, glad your ok though.
to re-align the bars i wouldn't do it with the nut under the BMW logo that keeps your tension in the headset, i would loosen the top yoke bolts on the forksand twist it back round, how far out is it??

hope it helps

 

[Wingit]

Sorry to here about your spill. Still, if you walked away then happy days!
(Crashed mine last month )

If your not techy minded with the bike I'd take it back to the dealer for adjustments and a check over unless you know and trust someone that can help you with it (perhaps someone on the forum?)

Cheers Ken.

 

[Buz]

Thanks chaps, the bars are about 15 degs out i'd guess.
Trouble is the dealership is about 40 miles away and I dont really want to ride it that far with the handlebars out. We have a local Motorbike shop that do MOT's/Repairs etc so may pop it along there rather than bu55er it up completely. Dont want to break anything as bike will still be under warranty!

 

[sijohnston]

re-aligning.

have had an off or two on my 800 as well, and it's the bars that have twisted too. if you've bent the handlebars, you'll need new ones, but that would take quite some force to do that. chances are they've just spun in the brackets at the top of the yokes. you definitely don't need to take to a dealer, just do as GS-ell says...it's very straight forward. glad you're ok.

 

[Buz]

If you look at the two black plastic covers you can just see how far they are out of alignment.

I assumed it would be just a case of loosening the allen key socket (poss wrong terminology) and the holding the wheel whilst adjusting the handle bars, as I used to on my old bike!

GS-ell mentions loosen the top yoke bolts on the forks and twist it back round.
Would these two bolts/torx be the ones that need loosening at the top of each fork?

All advice greatfully recieved......

 

[sturgeon]

Try loosening the bar riser, then adjusting. Bolt 7, nut 4.

 

[chad]

Try loosening the bar riser, then adjusting. Bolt 7, nut 4.

bingo and bang on the money

its still worth checking the yokes to make sure the forks are not missaligned

 

[Sooty09]

Sturgeon, you have succeeded in inserting the very Image I have been trying.
Photo bucket will not upload images from my BMW workshop CD and the web site I used to get my parts microfiche from has been moved or shut down.

I was going to suggest the same, if the bars are out of line with the yolk its probably the clamps which have moved in the rubber bushing. On older Triumphs etc the bars were held by a metalastic bush which could rupture under heavy pressure.The result was vague steering and a lot more vibration.
The metalastic bushes were a pig to remove but the more modern BMW system probably only needs dismantling and re setting. Note - the higher flat of the bar clamps face the front of the bike.

If you need to refit the rubber bushing (2 off Item 1) a bit of soft soap helps.
BMW recommend a new nut (No 4) and applying locktite and torquing up to 25Nm.

 

[sturgeon]

Sturgeon, you have succeeded in inserting the very Image I have been trying.

I cheated

I displayed the picture on my screen and then used the Windows Snipping Tool to cut out the important bit and saved as JPG. I suspect you could also print to PDF.

 

[sturgeon]

bingo and bang on the money

its still worth checking the yokes to make sure the forks are not missaligned

Absolutely, but this might be an simpler 1st start. I suspect these are easier to get out of alignment than the forks themselves.

 

[freeloader]

Try loosening the bar riser, then adjusting. Bolt 7, nut 4.

Sturgeon, you have succeeded in inserting the very Image I have been trying.
Photo bucket will not upload images from my BMW workshop CD and the web site I used to get my parts microfiche from has been moved or shut down.

I was going to suggest the same, if the bars are out of line with the yolk its probably the clamps which have moved in the rubber bushing. On older Triumphs etc the bars were held by a metalastic bush which could rupture under heavy pressure.The result was vague steering and a lot more vibration.
The metalastic bushes were a pig to remove but the more modern BMW system probably only needs dismantling and re setting. Note - the higher flat of the bar clamps face the front of the bike.

If you need to refit the rubber bushing (2 off Item 1) a bit of soft soap helps.
BMW recommend a new nut (No 4) and applying locktite and torquing up to 25Nm.

Absolutely, but this might be an simpler 1st start. I suspect these are easier to get out of alignment than the forks themselves.

WAIT A MINUTE!!

My bars were twisted after an off, but don't loosen the nuts at the bottom of the risers, the risers are not held at one angle by those, they'll rotate under hand pressure when the bars are removed, without loosening the nuts.

INSTEAD, loosen the bar clamp bolts (not shown in that diagram) and try to see if the bars will go back to their original orientation. They did for me. There are two "+" marks on the bars where they're meant to align with the bar clamps. With any luck they'll be out of alignment and realigning them with the clamps is all that's needed.

And anyway, you need to take the bars out of the clamps to undo that big bolt holding the risers to the top yoke.

 

[Greggers]

^+1 ... do exactly what he said ... it worked for me....

As soon as you start arsing around with the through bolts you're asking for trouble because it's difficult to keep them aligned while tightening the bolt.. DAMHIKT ....

Loosen the clamps, tweak the bars back to where they should be, tighten them up again... and Robert's your Mother's brother...

IIRC - an 8mm socket will fit the torx head...

G

 

[Gs-ell]

well theres a choice and a half for you!!

to be safe do all of it just remember to tighten everything up!!!
hope it gets sorted

 

[timmo29]

Buz,

this same thing happened to me after an off on the 800. My right hand riser had shifted slightly out of its mounting making the bars look like they had twisted. I dis-assembled the riser assembly, re-seated the riser and everything was spot on. But you only need to loosen nut 4 and bolt 7 in Sturgeon's diagram to achieve this, don't take them apart like I did. I've never seen nut 4 again!!! It fell and never hit the garage floor . I've obviously since replaced it, but every now and then I wonder how it's doing, and where it is!

 

[Buz]

Thanks for all the advice chaps.
I've just had another suggestion, the bars may well have bent looking at the pic rather than mis aligned so another route to visit i feel.

Timmo, its probably sat there grinning up at you everytime you go fo a ride mate

 

[freeloader]

Try this first

Thanks for all the advice chaps.
I've just had another suggestion, the bars may well have bent looking at the pic rather than mis aligned so another route to visit i feel.

Timmo, its probably sat there grinning up at you everytime you go fo a ride mate

Buz, looking at this pic, I can see that the two bar risers are sitting at different angles. You need to get the risers parallel first. The bars themselves may also be bent, but do this first: loosen off the four bolts securing the clamps to the bars, until the bars are free to turn in the clamps. You don't need to take the clamps off for this. Once the bars are free, try to turn them to where they ought to be while holding the front wheel still, then look from the side at the risers and see if they are parallel - when they are, stop trying to turn the bars and have a look to see if they're still out of alignment. If not, the bars aren't bent - tighten the four bolts again, front pair first, then the rear pair. Look for two "+" marks at the rear of the bars - these should be lined up with the gap between the risers and the clamps.

Hope that makes sense. Good luck.

 

[Greggers]

'Loader ..

Agreed, those clamps are misaligned but as the through-bolts are rubber mounted, they'll line up again once the clamp bolts are loosened. The bars themselves are fooking tough and IMHO it would take a monstrous impact to bend them...

My bike had exactly the same problem when I picked it up from Vines - it was an ex ORS bike which would explain the 'damage' ... I took pieces out of the guys at Vines for selling a bike with a damaged steering system and bent bars... until I loosened the clamp bolts and the whole thing sprung back into alignment ...

G

 

[freeloader]

'Loader ..

Agreed, those clamps are misaligned but as the through-bolts are rubber mounted, they'll line up again once the clamp bolts are loosened.

Yup, that was what I was trying to say. English really is my first language...

My bike had exactly the same problem when I picked it up from Vines - it was an ex ORS bike which would explain the 'damage' ... I took pieces out of the guys at Vines for selling a bike with a damaged steering system and bent bars... until I loosened the clamp bolts and the whole thing sprung back into alignment ...

G

My bars twisted when I dropped mine, but slackening the clamps and giving the bars a twist put them back in the right place.