Delboy's Garage, 'How-To' Re-align motorcycle forks the easy way. 

if any one that is following Delboy's helpful advice and doesn't have a piece of sheet metal for front tire, Use a folded trash bag, heavy duty leaf bag is best, and your tire will turn like butter, thanks again Delboy, keep the advice coming, Your a Gentlemen and a shade tree mechanic scholar.

This just saved me $$$ ! I had no idea on how easy it is to re allign my forks . Had a fall due to oil spill on the road . Thanks mate ! All the way from Singapore !

A decade on and Del is still helping me work on by bike!

Thank you so much for the video. It got my bike back on the road. Now my wind therapy can continue.

This method is proven over many decades (probably as long as telescopic forks existed) and used by many motorcycle mechanics. Good video.

Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. This was a job that concerned me and I have left the job for about a year and then followed your instructions and fixed it in less than an hour. Thanks and keep up the great work.

Oh man, this nearly decade-old video has saved me from possible replacing a perfectly good fork! Thanks so much Del! :)

I want to thank you for making this video, I had changed the top clamp to lower the my hayabusa an inch and I hit a pothole and my alignment went out bad. After watching this video it's riding straight, thanks.

This man know his stuff and again.. Thank you for posting I’ve learned a lot

Hi Del, thanks for this tutorial. I came back to this after I low-sided my bike on black ice just before Xmas. This video tutorial is what has got my bike back in the road. Thanks once again for another lesson that has got my bike back on the road & thanks for keeping me riding. Patreonage worthy every penny 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Followed your instructions in this vid today on my Zephyr. And i also lowered the fork by pushing the tubes 12mm through the yokes. It worked surprisingly well. I also raised the back using the excenters in the swingarm. The bike steers *much* sharper now!

Awesome. Just got a new motorcycle that was out of alignment, followed your directions and now they're straight. Thanks again...

Thanks Anthony, coming from a paid mechanic that is praise indeed, appreciate you watching! Del

Using the nut for an Allen key to loosen the axle is really clever.

I did the same on my Blackbird thanks to your video, and it made a world of difference now is perfect, thank you !!!

Hey Del, since I purchased my 883 Iron, I've been very reserved to do anything but ride it. I emailed you about a video on installing a pigtail to the battery. Then, I thought to myself, "What would Del do?" I know, he would say, "Mate, time to get your hands dirty and go for it!" Today, I did just that, and installed my pigtail by myself! Your videos gave me the confidence to do my own work! For this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! My offer still stands on a video. Thank you!

This is pay per view stuff man !! Thank you so much for the relentless priceless information !! keep up the good work !

Thanks for making this video, been having issues with my fz6 not 'riding straight' since I got the bike, throwing my right hand corners and most importantly my braking completely off. I'd just about had it till someone mentioned the front forks, they looked straight by eye, but I thought I'd give it a go following your video.. feels like a brand new bike.. actually turns and brakes as it should, found joy in riding once again.

Wow the most practical presentation ever . 70 year old ex Donnington GT champion in 1980.. You are the man . My Suzuki 650Burgman I have just bought steered like a dog .. weaving along happily. The steering head bearings were almost dry.and there was quite a lot of preload . (not noticeable through the handlebars .) Yet to test ride it .still awaiting the refurbished wheels .

Magic, thanks for that. Very informative. I rebuild a crashed Gen 1 in 2004. It had bent forks so I replaced them and never did the alignment thing. Never had a problem but wish I'd seen this video prior, would have been able to check it easily. My local mechanic berated me for tightening the forks up to much for the same reason's you say. Delboy's Hayabusa is a world of knowledge - love it.

That's great news buddy,....and exactly why we load them... well done getting to it yourself.... Del.

Perfect! I was so worried my forks were bent. I followed here instructions and they're totally straight!

Thanks mate . Putting my ST1300 forks back on after an overhaul. I was thinking about lining the front wheel back up . Now I can. Thanks again !

WHENEVER I HAVE A JOB TO DO ON MY MOTORCYCLE,AND AM UNSURE,YOU ARE ALWAYS THE FIRST STOP,WELL EXPLAINED AND ALWAYS DOES THE JOB,MANY THANKS FOR THE TIME AND EFFORT YOU PUT INTO VIDEOS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED,KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK SIR AND RIDE SAFE

excellent tutorial - thanks! You have real skill at teaching.

STUPID EASY. I did this on my 1981 Honda CM400C in 5 min. it was really jacked up so I had to kick the wheel to break it free, but after that, push push push push and boom... straight as an arrow. Thank you so much!

I've just got a new set of forks due to an off I had last week and was puzzling about how to realign my forks and came across this video which did the trick quite nicely. Much appreciated, I've been a fair shadetree car mechanic the last ten years, but am new to bikes, and learning all the new tricks is rather fun!

After being involved in an accident with my 04 hornet. Found my handlebars weren't inline when riding straight. With some help from my dad holding the rear grab rail, and me jumping up and down on the bike, got everything straight and back to normal. Have watched a lot of your videos and have been very helpful. Thanks delboys garage!

Perfect advice, will do in the morning :) Another handy tip - when using a nut as a large hex bit, screw it tightly onto a bolt. The nut never lines up perfectly with the bolt head and prevents you pushing the nut in with the socket. You can always pop a weld on it to make a useful tool for future use - also stops the nut coming undone if the thing you are loosening was done up strongman style - I can't be the only one to loosen and re-tighten everything I've had done by someone else!

try taking two nuts and lock them together on a bolt now you have a axle tool! thanks good video

My bike was in a local shop for three weeks and they couldn't figure out (or didn't bother to) how to get my alignment right again. This did the trick. I wish I had consulted trusty old RU-vid before going to a "professional" first. Thanks for the help!

Excellent video and in your usual informative and perfecting teaching style with no BS .. love it!

For people with a wonky sense of level,straight and angles there is a trick you can use called "Boning" (no not that sort) It's a joiners method of checking parallel.You need two straight pieces of wood, metal bar or similar. With two people get one person to hold a straight edge across the lower end of the forks (the lower the better). Now take the second straight edge and place it at the top of the forks, Across the handlebars or some other place you can check it is not angled. Now stand on the pegs and lean forward and look out at both ends of both straight edges if they line up at the tips the forks are true. If the ends are looking a bit like a very flattened x in comparison to each other then the forks are out and the flattened x will show you which way they are out. If the left bottom tip of the straight edge is in front of the top left tip then your bars need to turn to the right while the wheel stays straight ahead. If it's the other way (bottom right tip is in front of top right tip and the other end the bottom tip is behind the top right tip) then the bars need to turn left while the wheel stays straight ahead. It sounds complicated but print this off and practice with your bike to find the best place to put the straight edges (through the front wheel spokes or above but the further apart the better) then you will get it fairly quickly. Ride Safe and keep it shiny side up.

It's like giving cpr to your bike, lovely method.

Thanks so much for this "how to". I had a lay down the other day in the rain. Tire pointing straight, bars pointing right. With this information, I will be able to get it all back to normal. Thanks again.

Thanks Robert, it's nice to know you're out there watching. It's videos like this that the Discovery team want the most so just paying the bills, mate (well not actually because they don't pay anything but fulfilling the obligation all the same!), take care and keep it real, Del (hi from Penny P too!)

How is possible to differentiate whether the forks have a bend or whether they are just twisted resulting in a mal-alignment?

did you loosen that big silver bolt in the center of the handlebars?

I went out earlier this evening and tried your procedure on my 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 900 cruiser bike. The machine had been in a crash with the previous owner. The wheel was cocked to the left making me steer to the right a bit. It worked perfectly. Thanks my friend for posting this.

I've been watching piles of your videos. Thank you so much for your tips and insight! As you have shared so many tips with us, I thought I would share back a bit. You used a 24mm nut for the axle. When doing that, you can either space it off with a few washers or "make a tool" with a 24mm bolt that is tightened on and cut to length. That will make your 2-hand job a 1-hander.

I took a hard spill off road on my Africa Twin yesterday, enough to bend the bars and twist a riser in its mount. Luckily, I was able to limp to a Honda deal 35 miles away where they put on a bar that'll work temporarily and the riser corrected itself on the installation. Driving home, though, I saw the bars still didn't seem square with the wheel (they should've checked that, I think). I came across your well-taught video today and did the process just as you describe. Problem solved. You have a great teaching style and nothing was left unsaid that needed said. Thanks for this.

Laid my ladie'a cbr600rr down, forks were misaligned. I was one moment from taking over to my mechanic to get them fixed but decided to see what Google had to say on this. Uber happy that I found your video, worked out perfectly for me. Thank you and cheers from California!

Thanks for the video! My yz250 took a nasty spill and I could never find any video that explained this so well! Thank you!!!

Thanks for this and your other helpful video's , changed my fork lowers to chrome ones so your fork rebuild video along with this one made it an easy job.

I really appreciate this video. I lowsided my CBR250R after my front tire took on a clump of mud at 10 mph in a slight corner and bent my handlebars out of alignment. This really helped. It took about an hour of me fiddling around before I got it aligned to my liking, but I later realize that I never loosened the top center bolt. I went back and loosened it and tightened it back up in case there was some tension that needed to be released after the adjustment had been done without loosening it. Thanks Del.

I do a lot of services on my bikes and I can tell you got very good hands, how you show all little things that important, very good touch and feel when you hold a tool. You're videos give me a lot of tips how to improve and do stuff easier. Keep it up, and many thanks to you.

Best motorcycle maintenance channel in you tube👏👏👏thanks for making the maintenance so much easier when working on our bikes, greetings from Florida USA😎

This worked an absolute treat. I knew my forks weren't bent, just a bit twisted. I was trying to figure out how to mark and measure the fork legs, but I didn't need to because this cured them completely. Cheers.

Wanted to say thanks a bunch for the the video! Did this with my old VFR 750 and it worked great. Really happy with the result.

You're most welcome Michael, it's a simple trick and I'm glad it worked for you mate...!

Hey Delboy, just want to say a big thank you, this video saved me so much money and hassle, I have a moped and honestly thought my frame was bent following a small crash (not my fault), I googled and this video came up. I tried what you said in the video and hell, the difference, my bike is back to perfect ride again. Thank you so so much. You are a lifesaver. Rich United kingdom.

Excellent videos one and all! Even if there was nothing wrong with my VFR 750 (fat chance) I feel compelled to retire to the garage and do stuff. Many thanks to you both

Some people half ass these do-it-yourself videos. But you've honestly got me sold. Great video, can tell your confident in what you're doing. Tried it today on my 08' zx6r (never even realize how out of alignment my forks were) worked like a charm. You've just got yourself a new subscriber! Look forward to watching more of these.

Hi Mate....thanks a lot for this tutorial....I was on the verge of selling my ride which had this problem since I tried everything but wasn't able to rectify the issue.....your vedio was god sent .....asked a friendly mechanic to help me out and voila it worked like magic ....thanks again friend you are doing a great job stay blessed

Cheers Delboy! I was not looking forward to crawling around the bike after the front end was put out. It was parked up and managed to get hit by a fence panel blowing around in a storm!!! (knocked the bike over) Anyway, after watching yet another one of your excellent videos i took my time,followed your advice and now the front end is spot on. THANK YOU.

Appreciate you taking time upload these videos my mk1 bandit restoration project is flying along and very cheaply :)

I had doubts coming into this video. Then i saw it.... DUDE, YOU ARE FREAKING AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH! You just solved a problem I had for a year!! I can't even thank you enough!! Amazing!

Thanks for explaining this procedure. I have my forks off my bike now while I replace the oil seals, guides and o rings so I will make sure to do this as part of the reassembly.

Excellent tutorial on how to straighten up the front end, I used to struggle with this and I am going back to the 60s, I now have a Honda DN01 shaft drive, which makes axle stands a little more difficult, so it is statues for my wife. Thanks.

I must say, you really do teach me Things I already should know about! I've been riding bikes since -83 and I've never thought about fork alignment! Well, taking the fork apart for some Black paintjob and progressive springs will be finished off with some fork alignment, fur sure! Splendid! Thanks Del for sharing! ("Del" Means "share" or "part" in Scandinavia! Suitable name for you, indeed!)

THANK YOU! MY forks were misaligned after a parking lot spill, this had me perfectly back in alignment in less than 15 minutes.

Delboy's always delivers the goods!

Thanks mate, I'm glad it worked for you and well done for doing it yourself!

Thanks for the vid, someone didn't clean up an oil spill in the middle of the road, so I ended up low siding my bike. My alignment is a bit off, but this video helped me understand how to set the forks back straight. Thanks.

thx a bunch, will re-align my fork on sunday. i wouldn't even have noticed that it's off if it wasn't for your superb channel. keep it up mate, you are helping me (and obviously a whole lot of others, too) a lot. i will keep spreading the word about your channel.

hit a big pot hole the other day and managed to up right the bike mid corner..but it knocked the forks out a fair bit!!..your vid Just brill... so easy to do.. I had no idea it was that easy to do. Sod the garage from now on.. thanks again & ride safe.

Cheers mate, I appreciate you watching, ride safe, Del

i appreciate you going through this trouble ( one hand camera,,,,one hand allen key )..thanks very helpful

Just followed this procedure on my ZX6R Del and we're running perfectly straight and true, if i ever bump into you one day i'll make damn sure i buy you a pint mate, thanks a million! Jack

Thanks for this! I had a bit of an off on my Honda VFR, noticed that the forks were twisted when I was bringing it home from the shop. Never thought the fix would be this easy!

Yes thanks. I am going to use your front caliper rebuild video to rebuild my front calipers. Woul have cost me 200 dollars to do it at the local repair shop. Thanks again.

You are now my teacher maintenance motorcicle here from brazil

Thanks for the video was very useful after servicing my fork seals, installing the forks back is simple yet details like this are very important to follow. I did use a torque wrench and used a service manual but your video made the difference.

Thanks for the really helpful video. Another how-to in the toolbox for when I need it!

WOW . . . just WOW, ive been trying to sort mine out for bloody weeks, even took an angle grinder to my front tyre cause it was wearing unevenly!! I'll be following this video on friday afternoon!

Thanks Del. This was extremely helpful and informative. It probably saved me a couple hundred bucks in repair costs as well. ..very much appreciated. :)

great stuff mate, replaced the front tire today and used this method to set the front wheel up again, works great, cheers, keep up the good work :)

Thanks for all the great videos you work hard on for us.

Hey Del, Thanks for the step by step, bought a bike that had been dropped. It got a head shake when u let the bars go, tried your/the realign method and it fixed it. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to so. Simple stuff, but, if u don't know, u don't know. Cheers. 🛵🖖👍🌈🌏💜

Thanks, Moonfleet! Tumped my KLR 650 over on an East Texas log road and misaligned the forks. You've saved me a lot of money!

Thank u for making this video! Looks like it’s been ten years since u made it and it just helped me out drastically

Thanks for the advice I did get this issue taken care of today, and the bike feels normal again, and I am glad that I fixed this, if anything it bugged the heck out of me it was a distraction , I could not stand riding down the road and occasionally glancing at my handlebar and speedometer both orientated toward the right while my tire was pointed straight ahead.

I nailed a deer back in November, didn't really notice anything at first because the weather kept me in until now. This video really helped a lot! Took me about an hour or so and she rides as good as new. Thanks!!

Ah yes, I did delete the other one because I composed it before watching the full video and when I went back and viewed it I realized you went a different direction than I anticipated. Thanks for putting out your videos ... they are great!

You are most welcome mate, im glad it worked for you, that's what its there for... ride safe in the crap weather... cheers. Del.

Yes you do mate, as this allows the two clamps to move independently of each other as that is essential for re-aligning the forks... good luck with it, Del

Cheers for this! I just followed your method. Lowsided my R6 trackbike yesterday and I was told "Yeah you got a bent fork mate". I followed your tips and I'm as sure as anything it was just turned in the yokes!

You killed it! Thanks! Cheers from Wilkes-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 🇺🇸

Thanks for the info dude, really saved me some time and money who knew it was so simple!

glad i found this video. i've only been riding for about 3 months so i was freaking out, thought i had really messed something up lol quick realignment and life is good

Ok mate, clever thinking, but I don't have a 24mm bolt and I will be welding the nut to a piece of bar as soon as I get to it, it's never 'tight' as the axle is held by the pinch bolts, but it will be yet another handy improvised tool for the box. Thanks for taking the time, it's a great suggestion, it always amazes me how much ingenuity we bikers have, take care & keep safe, Del

Most welcome, and thank you for watching and taking the time to comment.. Del.

You do mention the center bolt in the vid, very usefull tips, really like your way of explaining, thanks for taking the time. ( need this one right now too )

Awesome video. As a motorcycle mechanic myself you sir did everything correct and explained well. I subscribed. Keep the rubber side down!

Cheers mate, good luck with it! Set the back alignment first by measuring off the swing arm pivot for absolute accuracy... then do this to the front, if it's still tracing after that you could have deeper troubles - good luck, Del

Another excellent vid, beautifully presented to share the knowledge.

Thanks Greg....glad it helped you out, and thanks for watching... Del.

hi mate, well done for getting it sorted out, they need a tweek every year or so, pot hols and bumps can knock them out of alignment with no trouble... ride safe. Del.

Excellent video in every way. Well done mate.

Thank you kindly sir, you are most welcome, and im glad it helped you out....take care.. Del.