Just came back from a short ride through the riverbottoms.
Fell a couple of times in the soft, deep, two-track sand parts of the trails (my nemisis).
First time, I fell on the left side. The handlebars were pulled back about an inch on the left side. Next time I fell, it was on the right side and after I got the bike up and going again, the bar's right side was pulled back about an inch.
"Crap!" I thought, "I didn't go down that hard!"
Got home and took the bars off; the bars themselves are not bent in the slightest, and after I pulled the bar mounts and their rubber bushings out of the fork crown, everything looked just fine.
I put everything back together and the bars are straight; in perfect alignment.
This is not the first time it's happened...and every time it appears that the bar mounts get "offset" in the rubber mounts....and all I have to do is take the mounts out of the fork crown and re-install. Nothing is ever permanently deformed or bent.
What gives? Why do the rubber bushings take a set when the bike goes down???
I coated the bushings with silicone grease this time, and will see if this happens again. I'm hoping the lubricant will let the rubber bushings "move" around inside the crown and go back to their original position instead of taking a set and holding the bars crooked.
Anyone else experience this? If so, have you found a remedy?
Fell a couple of times in the soft, deep, two-track sand parts of the trails (my nemisis).
First time, I fell on the left side. The handlebars were pulled back about an inch on the left side. Next time I fell, it was on the right side and after I got the bike up and going again, the bar's right side was pulled back about an inch.
"Crap!" I thought, "I didn't go down that hard!"
Got home and took the bars off; the bars themselves are not bent in the slightest, and after I pulled the bar mounts and their rubber bushings out of the fork crown, everything looked just fine.
I put everything back together and the bars are straight; in perfect alignment.
This is not the first time it's happened...and every time it appears that the bar mounts get "offset" in the rubber mounts....and all I have to do is take the mounts out of the fork crown and re-install. Nothing is ever permanently deformed or bent.
What gives? Why do the rubber bushings take a set when the bike goes down???
I coated the bushings with silicone grease this time, and will see if this happens again. I'm hoping the lubricant will let the rubber bushings "move" around inside the crown and go back to their original position instead of taking a set and holding the bars crooked.
Anyone else experience this? If so, have you found a remedy?