Twisted forks

[blaze7c]

So finally got my '72 125 here. Lot's of really good stuff about it. However the front wheel is tweaked pretty good. Now I've fixed a jillion of these in the past but beating them against trees, and a few more civilized methods  I have loosened everything up and still can't get it to stay put straight. Any ideas guys? forks don't appear to be bent.

[Richard Colahan]

Remove front wheel.
Insert axle into bottom of forks, no axle nut.
Do not tighten axle pinch bolts
Try to rotate axle by hand. It should not bind in the axle holes.
If it does, it's bent (unlikely...)
Loosen pinch bolts of one fork tube...only enough that you can rotate the tube by hand , maybe assisted by strap wrench or rubber gloves.
Rotate slowly and look closely to see if bottom of lower fork leg moves back and forth relative to the inserted axle. If so...a tube is bent.
Repeat for other fork tube.
Put wheel in truing (or balance) stand. Check for radial (up/down) or lateral (side/side) run out. If out, wheel can be trued unless rim is bent.

Richard Colahan
1969 V1225
Upper Black Eddy PA

[t20sl]

Most likely cause is a fork tube or both is bent.  I have straightened many with 3 blocks bored to tube size and a hydraulic press that has a dial indicator built in. Can be trued except if they have a sharp bend or kink.

[blaze7c]

Thanks, guys. The left tube is bent. Not bad, shows a tad more than 1/8" of air with straight edge applied. The right leg is straight. Since it is a nice tube "no rust/pitting" I'm going to try to have it straightened locally. Now if someone has a really nice 32mm tube for sale let me know. The bike has the wide set forks "6-3/4" so I think the tube is slightly longer than the earlier forks.