[Baby]

My KTM SM 690 left the road and hit an embankment front-first. I was able to ride it 40 miles home, but the front looks pretty tweaked, like one fork leg is farther forward than the other. My question is, how to I go about assessing the damage? I assume I can pull the fork legs and roll them on a flat surface to determine if they're bent. What about the triple tree? Frame?

 

[Hobie Sailor]

Loosen up the clamps and the stem nut and see if you can straighten it out that way. The top and bottom clamps are probably out of alignment or possibly bent. Forks are pretty tough, but they can bend.

I'd check the forks first with a straight edge. It will be really difficult to roll them, I'd really doubt the outter fork tube would bend, more likely the inner if any thing. Do they make a funny noise when compressing them? Bushings might rub funny if something is tweaked.

This bike went down at 130 mph+-, Amazingly the most major thing that was bent was the subframe, which was bent anyway. But, it didn't hit anything solid, neither did I luckily.

 

[MXCat]

+1

You probably just tweaked the fork alignment. Follow the above and it should be fine.

For future reference, you can usually do a trail side fix by standing in front of your bike, grasping the front wheel with your knees and yanking the bars in the opposite direction of the tweak. It ain't perfect, but it can get you home in a pinch.

 

[Baby]

Thanks, guys. That's a relief. I'll have a look in a couple days when I'm not as sore.

 

[sunofnun]

good luck getting back on your feet.. +1 on tweaking the bars/forks back into shape..

 

[supertireguy]

Most SM bikes are robust when it comes to surviving crash damage. Can't say the same for the riders.

So your SM bike left the roadway and hit an embankment entirely on its own accord or did it have some sort of help from the pilot? Any post-crash booboo analysis worth sharing with us? SM crashes happen, usually nothing to be ashamed of and usually with little/no damage. I've crashed my Husaberg at least 5 times resulting in nothing more than scratched handguards or axle sliders. Try that with any sportbike and it's usually $$$.

 

[apa]

Some times with a good hit the axle will bend and misalign the front wheel.


.

 

[Baby]

Most SM bikes are robust when it comes to surviving crash damage. Can't say the same for the riders.

So your SM bike left the roadway and hit an embankment entirely on its own accord or did it have some sort of help from the pilot? Any post-crash booboo analysis worth sharing with us? SM crashes happen, usually nothing to be ashamed of and usually with little/no damage. I've crashed my Husaberg at least 5 times resulting in nothing more than scratched handguards or axle sliders. Try that with any sportbike and it's usually $$$.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Few things and a question:

I loosened all the bolts on the upper and lower triple clamps and yanked on the bars a bit, tightened things down again, and the forks are looking well aligned. The handlebars are another story. Actually, the bars look straight. It's the support that looks a little tweaked.

I pulled the bars and support off, thinking the bolts might be bent, but they look ok. The support itself (the cradle in which the bars sit) looks slightly twisted (and I mean "slightly"). I put it upside-down on a flat surface, and it wobbles a bit. The part looks pretty tough--is it possible it could have bent enough to throw the bars off a bit?

Supertireguy, post-boo analysis: I had my head up my ass. After 26 years of legal street riding, this was the first time I've fallen off. (Dirtbikes are another story.) I was at Pt. Reyes on a narrow farm road from Valley Ford (something or other school road I think). Pretty wide open country, where you can see way down the road. I may have fallen asleep. Next thing I knew, I spy a tight left, so I speed up a bit, then brake a bit as I turn in hard left. The corner seemed to tighten a bit, so I leaned more. This is where I really fell asleep. When I looked up to the exit I saw a fence. To my surprise, the road actually bent back sharply to the right and downhill. I was still leaning hard left. Totally missed it. I cut my losses and scrubbed off some speed and went down I think when the front wheel hit the dirt. I've fallen harder off of mountain bikes and dirt bikes, but I still feel fortunate that I didn't get injured. See you next time my Guzzi needs tires, and thanks for your encouragement.