Motorcycle Triple Clamp Alignment

The motorcycle wheels are straight and true.

Motorcycle triple clamp alignment.

The forks and triple clamp system is straight and true. Changes in spring preload tires rear shock location or linkage or changes achieved by moving the forks up or down in the triple clamps all change the respective ride heights. You use a tape measure from the swing arm pivot bolt to rear axel. To realign your front end you need to remove the front fairing and then the handlebar risers from the triple clamps.

You can not always trust the manufactures marks for the rear axel position 3. Doing this will free up the front end even more. A quick simple method of aligning forks first time every time. So in addition to what you propose i would suggest you slack off the pinch bolt on the upper triple clamp securing it to the steering stem which holds the clamps in alignment or misalignment to allow it to rotate into alignment.

The first thing you should do is figure out if the handlebars themselves are bent before you start messing with the alignment. If the front end is still out of alignment then it s necessary to loosen the steering stem nut with a 32mm wrench. On racing bikes the trail is usually adjusted with an adjustable triple clamp which changes the offset distance and can be adjusted in fine increments to fine tune the handling of the bike. This will insure the rear wheel is perpendicular to the swing arm pivot.

The height of the front of the motorcycle typically measured from one of the triple clamps and the height of the rear of the motorcycle. My handlebars were slightly out of whack after my bike went over last week. Aftermarket triple clamps can be purchased for road bikes to allow this adjustment and remove the need to change ride heights instead. Support the front of the bike so that the bike will not slide up or down when you start working.