So i noticed it a few weeks ago when it was on the jiffy stand that the rear tire didnt seem to be in line with the fender.... i just figured my eyes were playing tricks on me. until today when i bought a chock for the front that keeps the bike upright in the garage. i was walking back in the garage and i could see it plain as day. the tire looked like it was leaning to the left! so i ran my hand up in there and i could barely get a finger between the right side of the tire and the fender, where on the left i could put my whole hand in there....so now i know its not an optical illusion, but i dont know wtf it is!

i looked at the belt and its tracking true and straight. tire shows no signs of being abnormally worn. letting your hands off the bars on the road it will veer slightly to the left but nothing bad(i keep alot of sh*t in the left bag anyways)... but it doesnt look like anything i can fix with the for/aft axle adjustments. it almost looks like i need to twist the dang swingarm or something! any suggestions? its almost like the whole rear ens is tweeked or something.... HELP! anybody else notice this?

 

Are you sure the axle is straight?

 

That is the first thing I would check too. It is pretty easy to get a rear axle cockeyed, even with the newer style bosses.

 

I think the rear motor mounts and the axle use the same pivot. New mounts maybe?

 

Glide Pro has a video showing how to check the alignment with lasers. Block up the bike straight and level with both tires just touching the ground. Get 2 magnetic lasers (avail at home depot), stick them on each rotor facing each other. The 2 lines will run next to each other on the ground. The lines should be perfectly parallel to each other, if not measure the difference on the ground from the narrowest and the widest point between the lines, thats how much the back wheel is out of alignment.

Ive heard of guys doing it with 8 foot flourescent light tubes up against the front wheel and the rear tire should fit exactly in between the tubes also

 

Honestly no. Ill jack it up this week and pull it and see whats up... i just feel like if it was the axle it would wobble or something... It does have a pretty uncomfortable feeling sometimes in turns but i just figure its the common bagger wobble...

 

Rear end and rear engine mount share the same pivot? how about that. ill try and check that out too this week. also, the previous ownder dumped it in a parking lot so im wondering if the rear end is tweeked to the left a hair....i highly doubt it but im just spitballing...

 

Do you have levels you can put on the brake disks to check for any leaning of the wheels one way or the other? You don't have to get the bike perfectly vertical but you do want to see the same level indication from the front and rear wheels indicating they are in the same vertical plane. (Each one could be a half bubble out in the same direction and they would be in the same plane with each other.) If they are not in the same plane, I don't know what to do to adjust the new frames, on the older ones it is easy. Perhaps there is an "after the factory" upper engine brace which can have its length adjusted, I believe the factory ones are not adjustable There is also a chance everythig is as it should be but the fender got pushed to one side when it went down. Loosening the bolts that hold it and giving it a good shove in the appropriate direction might do the job. Take care not to push too hard as the fenders are pretty thin metal. If the saddle bag supports attach to the fender at the rear, they may have tweaked the fender in the fall.

 

Ill put a level on it tomorrow. it does kinda seem like everything in the rear is pushed to the left just a hair and the bike did go down on the right side soooo maybe thats it. and yes the saddlebag rails do connect at the fender that would make sense. Man i hope thats it. a little persuasion and ill straighten that thing right out! thanks for the advice

 

The wheel cams sound like the simplest thing to check along with a measurement from Transmission to axle. It could be very simple or a true PIA Someone mentioned rear motor mounts. Could be a few things but not that much to go wrong back there. That is of course unless you were me with an 01 and had a cracked swing arm. But your bikes year you should not have to worry about that.