Wheel Alignment?

[jjckflsh]

Ok, I know that there has been several post on the board about it but I got a sort of different question concerning alignment.  I just aligned my back tire using the string and ruler methods of alignment.  Specifically, taking a string wrapping it around the back tire and measuring the difference and adjusting from there.  In addition, I measured from the swing arm pivot point to the center of the rear axle.  Both methods seem to the rear tire to be correctly aligned. 

When ridding, if I take my hands off the handle bars the bike wants to pull right.  It wants to pull right hard enough that I need to offset my body weight to the left to counter. 

My thoughts (For what they are worth):

While riding with this condition, am I not offsetting this imbalance with input from the handle Bars?

If so, then wouldn't the tire or tires be dragging doing this?

What is causing this?

And how do I correct this?

I'm not sure if this is an alignment problem or something else.  Thanks in advance for any help!

Jack

[wildphil69]

crowned road?

[jjckflsh]

I wish that was it but, it still pulled even on the opposite side.  Just not as much due to the counter slope of the road. 

Jack

[Oz Booster]

Ok i learnt this one the hard way, a bike i brought back in 98 always pulled one direction and if i lifted the front wheel it would headshake on landing, frame was twisted

easy way to tell is with a builders spirit level,
secure the bike and with the level on the side of the rear tire , get the bike upright (level will be about 45 deg from horizontal)   , you may need a stand or jacks under the pegs, but make it secure as you will be moving the front tire
then when the rear tire is absolutely vertical , cross reference with the machined seat pads, they should be square or horizontal,
then level against the front tire , turn the bars to get the front vertical
NOW  string line the front ....is the front pointing true or off to one side
If the swingarm is not true the rear and seat pad will not be 90 degrees from each other
and if the head stock is cambered the front wheel will not point forward correctly when upright

Watched the old school frame aligner guy do this to mine , and he did not have to tell me the bad news back then, i could see where it was going

Or you can take it to a laser aligner  and get a printed sheet with your specs

[jjckflsh]

Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary equipment to do frame and or alignment measurements.  I think I'll take the bike down to Pete from Computrack Boston to have him look at it.  I'll report the results later.

Thanks to all that contributed,  I appreciate the input.

Jack