Bars shifted??

[Mokwepa]

Hi guys
New to this forum. Got a brand new KDX200 about a week ago, im very proud of it. Its Russell Campbell's race version.

Yesterday, i made the mistake of letting someone else ride my bike. The twit dropped it :| , very gently though, and the bars seem to of shifted(right grip is further back than the left). The bars are not bent though. What are the chances that the bar clamp bolts are bent(the ones that go through the rubber bush'es in the top triple clamp)??

I know this is a dumb question, im used to working on classic GP bikes. None of them have this rubber bush setup.

Any tricks, tips, or quick fix ideas?
Thanks
Dylan

 

[muddertrucker]

Just loosen the bar mount nuts and you should be able to get the bars straight again. If the bar mount is bent the bars will shift when you tighen the nuts, thats what it did on mine anyways.

 

[glad2ride]

That's a drawback of the rubber bushing setup. Tipovers can get them out of line. Loosen the bolts and realign the handlebars.

 

[ridejunky]

The stock bars ben very easy when banging trees. Virtually any replacement will be a movement in the right direction.

 

[Mokwepa]

Thanks guys

loosend everything up and retightend everything, it worked.
Thanks again

Dylan

 

[steve.emma]

this can happen a lot on a kdx if you crash. the best solution i found was to use kx250 nolathane bushes which are stiffer than the kdx rubber versions but still provide vibration resistance. if thats still not enough then buy a kx250 1 piece upper bar clamp. both these mods are cheap and easy to do, plus will stop the bar twist problem if you crash on a trail.

 

[muddertrucker]

Do all kx 250 bushing fit the KDX or is it only certain years. I had my buddy make som aluminum bushing to fix the bar twisting problem but am worried the vibration will be too much.

 

[Mokwepa]

As far as i know, the bushes are there to prevent you from bending bars on every fall, not to make the ride comfy. Aluminium bushes will defeat the object of having bushes in the first place. The rubber bushes might be a bit too soft, but they saved my bars.

excuse me if im wrong, just my view.

 

[BigRedAF]

There good if you like them and bad if you don't.

They reduce vibration a bit and perhaps lessen the damage to your bars in a crash. I have bent the bolts that go through them in a crash and that sucked. I could have replaced the bars at the track if they would have bent but finding a bolt is an other story...

 

[steve.emma]

the kx250 bushes i use were off a 97' model i think, same with the upper clamp.
as far as vibration goes they work nearly as good as rubber items and will still move if you crash real bad. ive seen the alloy items and although they wont move like BigRed said, you can bend the main bolts in a crash which is harder to fix.

 

[muddertrucker]

Well... with the rubber bushings I still managed to bend the bars and a bolt so I bought protapper bars. The aloy bushings are free and nothings keeping me from swaping them back out if I don't like them.

 

[Mokwepa]

Fair enough.