Something's bent

motorson said:

Ludwig wins the prize!! Another way is to use two 8-foot fluorescent light bulbs. If your fenders are removed, you can stand the bulbs straight up gently touching the rims or tires. Two friends can gently hold them there or, if you don't have two friends then use duct tape. Now step back and eyeball the bulbs to see if they are in the same plane. (Parallel with each other.) This method can also be used to adjust the tension in the head steady if you have an adjustable one.

Just remember that the bulbs being parallel (in a vertical plane) does not indicate wheel off set. You can, however, run one bulb under the bike and see if your tires or rims are parallel when you hold the steering straight. When the front rim is parallel to the rear rim the distance from the straight edge to the front rim or tire should be half the width difference between your front and rear tire/rim.

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ludwig said:

I would always take the swingarm out.
It is not so hard to straighten them, but make sure the bushings stay in line.
Whatever you do ( weld, bend..), always keep the bushings and the spindle in place.
There is more to it than swingarm and isos, but once lined out correctly, a Commando is a joy to ride.
I have hollow wheel spindles and front iso bolt, which makes it so much easier to check:

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ilikevelos said:

.. Are they commercially available or did you bore them?

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ludwig said:

I would always take the swingarm out.
It is not so hard to straighten them, but make sure the bushings stay in line.
Whatever you do ( weld, bend..), always keep the bushings and the spindle in place.
There is more to it than swingarm and isos, but once lined out correctly, a Commando is a joy to ride.
I have hollow wheel spindles and front iso bolt, which makes it so much easier to check:

Click to expand...

worntorn said:

What a good way to check alignment!
After seeing this I thought to check the 920 this way, then thought maybe best to leave it be as I'm happy with it, why open a can of worms?
In the end curiosity won out and it checked out all OK.

Glen

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