DRZ - Forum

Hi everybody!

Yesterday I had a nice fun semi-off road ride wi a friend o'mine. He rode my DR-Z for some time while I was testing Honda AX-1 (NX250 for Europe) jis' for fun - off road was not really that "OFF" it could be. I found AX's has a fair good potential for hanging around the city - such a smooth, tough, and "tourqY" little buzzer! Meanwhile my friend was climbing the hill and during 5th or 6th climb he was a wee under-speed when "entering" the slope, twisted the throttle trying to add some power to finish climbing and "vois la!" - felt on his (in fact MINE left side. So after we were back to the garage I didn't notice anything strange about the bike, my frien d was a wee depressed because of the fault on my bike (I know what that means - believe me ). Anyway, I put the bike in "stall" and left it.
Today after because of the hard rain I went to Eurosport-Russia studio. And after 5Hrs long MotoGP air from Portugal I got back home (to garage actually) to fuel the bike up for tommorrow ride to work and to lubricate the chain ('twas fair dry). I pulled th bike off the stand and suddenly noticed that the handlebar (and the shiled with the headlight) is a twisted against the front wheel. Not really but still noticeable. I started thinking about fixin' the problem, prepared a bunch of wrecks, but before loosening the upper cross-arm nut I decided to try good old stupid bycilce "trick": I've griped the front wheel in my rear legs and tried to turn the handlebar to it's normal position and .... it worked!!!! without loosening any bolts&nuts it took it's normal pos, but didn't move a cm further.. So now I'm thinking - should it be THAT easy?! Calm me down, please - say it's ok
Another thing I would like to ask is the following. In my DR-Z's User's Manual (which is in German) the speedo area on the digital display is called "Tachometer" - is it a sort of misstype? Or in German "Tahometer" and "Speedometer" are the same thing (whicj a seriously doubt)?

Thank you for your time and best regards!

Alexander

The "Tachometer" or short "Tacho" is the device, which displays the current speed of a vehicle.

Affenschaukel

Hi Mike61 and Affenshaukel!

2Affen: I see. The difference is in word usage in German and Russian. In Russian we usually call the Tachometer the instrument which indicates number of Engine rpm (e.g. "Tacho's marked upto 15 000 rpm"). And the Speedometer shows the speed. Now I got it and won't try to get information about engine revs from nice little gadget )

2Mike61: You've frighten me, Mike. Well, frankly the fall was not THAT rough (the total "fall height" was about 90cms and the ground was fair soft and wet), thus I believe nothing seriuos had happened. I've tested it, while was riding 35kms to work today in the morning at descent 100-110 km/h. But I will try to look at the unit more precisely as soon as I get to garage. Are there any obvious sympthoms of the bearing damage? Sounds? whatever?

Best regards,
Alexander

Michael,

the thing is not that there are hitches or futfull move (thank your dictionary! ) nothing of the kind. The question is: is it possible to fix the problem of slight handlebar twist against the front wheel without loosening any cross-arm nuts? With only hands movement.

Thank you,
Alexander

Thanks Mike!

Yes Alex,

After a fall it is perfectly possible to twist the forks back by keeping the frontwheel between your knees and turn the steer at the same time.

Preferrably you would loosen up your triple clamp first, while your skid splate is supported by a Coca Cola crate, and kick your front forks a little bit. Your front wheel, including the forks, will jump back to their origininal position.

Hope this helps,

Take care,

Noppy

Thank you Noppy!

Alexander