On Guzzis (and many others), adjusting fork alignment should be done as follows (most of the credit for this procedure goes to Joe Minton)
In order to be able to tell the difference between before and after, try riding the bike over a bumpy stretch of road just before beginning this procedure.
1. Put the bike on the center stand or swingarm stand.
2. Straddle the bike without putting any weight on the seat and grab the bars.
3. Pump the front end up and down to get a feel for how it is working (don't use the front brake).
4. Get off and loosen the fork brace, the front fender mounting bolts,
axle pinch bolts, upper triple clamp pinch bolts and the upper triple clamp steering stem pinch bolt.
5. Straddle the bike as before and vigorously pump the front end about 6 times. If you found in step 3 that the bike wanted to roll off the stand, you can use the front brakes _if_ they are the non-integrated type. If they are integrated, you will need to block the front wheel. If you use the front brake on the integrated models, it will cause the front end to twist when you bounce it.
6. Gently get off the bike without disturbing anything and tighten the
axle pinch bolts.
7. Repeat step 5, get off and tighten the fork brace and/or fender.
8. Repeat step 5, get off and tighten the upper triple clamp pinch
bolts and stem pinch bolt.
9. Repeat step 5 and see if you can tell any difference between how it
felt in step 3.
You may or may not be able to tell any difference until you take it for a ride over that same bumpy road (at the same speed, etc). If the forks were already well-aligned, you won't feel much of any difference but if they were twisted, you should note better compliance over bumps in both compression and rebound. You may find that you will now have to readjust these settings on your forks if so equipped, if the forks had been sticking or binding.
[This method seems to assume that the tubes are already aligned at the lower triple, which may or may not be the case. In any case, I believe the first bolts that you should tighten on the front end in the alignment procedure are the lower triple clamp pinch bolts.-ed the ed. ]
Jerry Riedel
jriedel@pacbell.net
