Part of the fallout from my crash a month ago was a bent steering lug. Since I had ot go back to school before the parts arrived my dad has been putting it back together. Don't worry, he enjoys fixing it almost as much as I like riding it. Anyway we were thinking we'd have to reseat and reweld the lug, but he started grinding it off and found something a little odd. I'll post the email he sent me because I'm a little drunk and I'm not toally clear what he's talking about.

QuoteThe initial assumption on that steering lug is that it was pushed to the side in the accident, and certainly the side of the lug shows that there was a great pressure exerted there. However when I ground away the weld fillet, there was not a void behind the lug where you'd expect one if it had been partially torn away from the steering head. We did see a little bit of a void at the very end but it didn't carry into the space behind. Therefore I think that the lug was originally welded incorrectly, and was probably deemed insignificant since it's only effect is to to alter the turn radius when you're manuevering while walking the bike. You'd certainly never turn the wheel that far during actual riding.

I'd be interested in seeing if your forum member(s) would look at their bike(s) and see if the lug is centered, which I think it should be. Regardless, now that the weld has been ground away it'll need to be restored.

After the crash I think that the lug had been bent further than originally manufactured because I couldn't turn the bars very far right- much less than before the crash. Is it possible that it was welded off center though? Is this something we'd need to take into account when rewelding it? Should it be offset, not totally centered?

Mine's dead center.

I've got my money on your bike's stop being a friday job.

BTW, I need to meet your dad....

I just checked mine and the steering stop looks pretty close to being in the center, however the top piece that the steering lock, locks to is over to the left quite a bit.

I bet yours was welded on a little crocked, and with a crummy weld. If it was a good weld it could have screwed up your alignment.

Just chop that sucker off and weld it back on center (but don't weld it too well)

Hope this helps, good luck 

check the steering head where the lower bearing race sits often on gs falls when the stop gets bent it will distort the head and you will see a gap around the front of the race we hammer it back to shape with a large blunt steel rod .