Steering lock

[gsatterw]

Hey guys, quick question. maybe.

So my steering lock used to function well, then I was in a pretty rough front end wreck, bike bounced down the road a bit (this was 1.5 years ago). Bent a fork, destroyed gauges and head light, ruined gas tank, destroyed tail plastics (02 model). So I finally got around to replacing my ignition (cause my keys kept breaking off in my tank cap so I go a new key set) and my steering still wont lock. Do I need to replace my steering stem to get it to lock again?

Graham

[adidasguy]

Keys break off in the tank if you don't press down on the fuel cap when you lock/unlock it. The rubber ring has springs so there's lots of pressure. Push the cap in and you won't break off keys.

As for steering lock:
Look at the square hole in the steering stem. That's where the pin from the lock goes. If the frame is twisted, can't turn enough to the left (or over turns) or the lock is not installed correctly, you won't get the locking pin into that square. Nothing to say other than study everything and see what is bent, twisted or wrong.

[gsatterw]

thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow morning. Really hope the frame isn't bent. I suppose it's possible, however. Rides fine.

And I have no idea what happened to the lock on my tank. I always push down, the lock just quit turning smoothly and would 'lock up'. I tried some different lubricants and nothing helped. Anyways that's all behind me, I once again have one key for all the locks and they all function flawlessly. Feels good.

[adidasguy]

Sometimes gas caps corrode inside. Oil in the key slot isn't enough. Sometimes you just have to take them off and lube every moving part then put them back.

[gsatterw]

Ok, so I realized something that could be very bad, or just sort of annoying, but possibly very bad; I can turn the front end to the right far more than I can turn to the left, making my steering lock not engage. Everything on the frame looks pretty straight, but I can't exactly tell. The wedge that knocks the stops on the lower triple appears to possibly be off center, but that may be because I am centering them visually off of the lower triple. Pics:

Left Side


Right Side


Wedge on Right


Wedge on Left


And as a bonus, my old Fork Brace




What do you guys think? Frame or lower triples? It was always such a pain in the ass to get my front wheel on with the fork brace attached...

Edit: make sure to scroll to the right to see the screwed up part of the fork brace.

[adidasguy]

someone find the posts from a year or more ago about a guy who bought a bike and had the problem that the bike had a crash and now tjhe steering tube of the frame was out of round.

Looks like your steering went hard right on the crash and now the front steering tube of the frame is no longer round because the forks hit the stop wedge thingy so hard it bent it to the right.

That old thread said a lot and had pictures showing the lower bearing collar for the steering was not round anymore.

It may be that you can grind off part of that wedge thingy. Take off the front end and look at that part from below. See if the bearing collar is still round. If not, then you need a new frame. Another possibility is to widen the steering lock hole.

Possibly when you had the crash, the ignition assembly got torqued a little so you could still lock the bike. Or it was worn out a little and could get into the hole OK.

[gsatterw]

I'll go look for that post.

And to clear things up, the bike steering locked, bike was wrecked, steering no longer locked. Ignition assembly is fine, I only switched it out because I changed my tank lock, and I wanted to have one key, not 2.

[adidasguy]

Got it. After crash: it no workie!
Bet the steering tube is no longer round at the bottom.
If bearings and everything SEEM smooth (and probably worked OK for the 18 months) then you can probably get by with grinding off part of the wedge thingie on the steering tube so you can turn further to the left.
Needing a new frame is not a pleasant option.
I assume steering has been OK to you so please look at it, take photos and grind off part of that wedge thingie. You'll know what's really wrong and can deal with it when necessary and/or funds permit.

[gsatterw]

Alright, so I ripped apart the front end and took apart the steering stem. I didn't take pictures, but the wedge was totally deformed and off center. I assume the wreck was so catastrophic that when the left (when sitting on the bike) steering stop on the lower triple whacked into the wedge, it heated the wedge up and moved a significant amount of material to the right side, making it so the right steering stop would contact it sooner than it should, resulting in me not being able to turn the bike to the left as far as it should, thus making the steering lock not engage. Whew.

So what I did was grind the right side down so that I could turn as far left as I could right. I put everything back together and...no go. So I ground the crap out of the steering lock hole...and voila! I can now lock my steering column. What a day. When it was all said and done, I had disassembled and reassembled my front end fully once, and partially another 2 times. Now I shouldn't have to take my front end off again ever ever. Until I blow a fork seal. But taking the forks of is newb shat.

Now my only concern is when I put my tank on (big tank) I believe I'm gonna have an issue with the factory clip ons contacting the tank...now that I think about it, I had to shim my right bar out more than my left one when I installed them to clear the tank. Should have tipped me off that something was not right when I installed them 9 months ago...

[adidasguy]

Only the Euro type-1 fit and then it is close on the right so even with those, you'd have to shim with the larger tank. 89's are more of a problem.

Nothing "heated up" in the crash to move the wedge. The round steering stem pf the frame that it is welded to got deformed. Wish you would have taken pictures looking straight up the steering tube. Probably would have seen it is no longer round. at least you can lock the bike now. Be aware that someday if you have steering issues, you'll need to take another look at that part of the frame.

[gsatterw]

I did look at the stem (both the bearing and the part attached to the lower triple and had a few people look at them for extra opinions). All seemed perfectly round and straight. Just the wedge that was totally screwed up.

The only digital camera in the house is my mothers, and it the first digital camera in existence, and a pain to use.