Has anyone ever heard of handlebars being bent from being strapped down too tight to a bike lift?

Why would one strap a bike down that hard?....Sorry, I had to ask!

+1 and nope never heard of it but normally I strap larger bikes from around the fork above lower tree with soft strap extensions'
or clean rag around it first ,and if do it from the bars but as spook said why would you need to pull it down that hard

It sounds like it may have been strapped down to the wrong location on the bike lift so when the bike was getting jacked up it was pulling down on the bars bending them.
I must ask was this a workshop or done at home.

There would have to have been mega force on them to bend, i would also be looking at the fork seals as you would surely think the forks would be heavily compressed to bend the bars.

Not going into all details. The cause of this problem cannot be confirmed with absolute certainty. The bike concerned was at a workshop having some major work done over the course of two weeks. Bike was immaculate before hand with def no problem and now the owner has noticed the right side of the bars are ever so slightly bent so when the front end is straight, the bars at the curve are higher on one side than the other. I don't know how else this could have occurred and can only presume it was strapped down too hard on one side. Will approach the shop but not sure how this will go.

they dont have to be that tight! just even and secure.. i can't really see the bars bending from being strapped down, the suspension have to be bottomed out

Ok this is now sorted out and workshop concerned continued to be great with service and knowledge which is why I was never prepared to make accusations etc.

Short story: I'm a goose and my guess at the problem was wrong.

Long story: the oem rubber bushings around the riser bolts must be worn and this can give the appearance of bars not aligning correctly to the front end. With the bars fitted on the bike concerned it also gives the appearance of the bars being ever so slightly bent on one side. Fixed by pushing bars against their limit on the opposite side of where it appeared bent. It was just funny timing with the bike being worked on but worn bushings could have allowed things to move over that period and/or work.

That was my lesson learnt from today.

Posting this so others may learn. Bushings will be replaced with upgraded ones.

I have seen "bent" bars before now. Caused the guys some distress !!

Solution ? Loosen everyfucking thing on the front end damn near.

I remove each bolt one by one , coppergrease each in turn and bump them up only until they're snug

There is an order of operations depending on model , and variances in torque settings.

Start low and work progressively higher with the torquing sequence.

HD dealers do this ( supposed to !) during the PDI , as most models arrive with the bars damn near inverted in the crate

Easy fix at day's end as you've discovered

See it regularly, especially on bikes with 2 individual risers like a 07 FXSTC. They almost always twist in the riser bushes to the rhs (so the rh side is low) from pulling the bars around when lifting it off the side stand. Just put it on lh lock and tweak the bars to the left, past the straight point til they line up with the top triple tree.
Genuine riser caps that join both risers together have a step on the underside on the rear 2 bolt holes. These should be tightened first, then the front 2. Doing them up all crossed up can move the bar in the risers too.

Funny you mentioned this.

I had my girlfriend (she is small,before any smart ass comments) sitting on my 2011 FXST because she wanted to see what it felt like. She was sitting on the bike and I was holding the bars from the front and had the front wheel between my knees just for some extra support in case she couldnt hold the weight up.A while after this we rode into the city and all seemed fine.It was at night so i wasnt paying any attention to the front end of the bike,only the road ahead of me.I had the bike parked on a busy city street and left it for about half an hour out of view.

We did what we had to do and went back to the bike.We got on and as I rode away It felt like something wasnt quite right,like the bars were bent.I pulled over and tried to pinpoint the issue,but it was too dark.I just bit the bullet and rode,but it felt wierd all the way home.

I waited for it to be daylight the next day and checked it again.There is definately no sign of any physical damage.

When I sit on the bike stationary,the bars seem to be in alignment with the top triple clamp and all looks good. When im in motion,the left hand side of the bars are definately higher to keep the bike in a straight line.I havent ridden it in a few weeks due to time constraints so I havent had a decent amount of time to have a look at it.

The bike has done less than 5,000 km and ive owned it since new. This was the first time I have noticed it like this.(after my girlfriend was on it)

Is it possible that with the front wheel between my knees and holding the bars I have "twisted" the triple clamps out of alignment due to wrong torque specs on the triple tree bolts from the dealer, or extra stress on the forks ?

Time permitting,I was going to loosen it all off and use a string line to get everything aligned and torque it all back down again.

Does this sound like a good place to start ?

Being a 2011 FXST I only have pinch bolts on the lower triple tree.Does anyone know what tightens the top triple tree around the fork leg ? The fork leg caps ? Are the phillips head screws that go into the side of the top triple tree there just to stop the fork leg sliding out of the trees if anything comes loose,or do they serve another purpose ?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like my issue. Which side of the handle bars appear or seem to be bent?

If you can line the bars up by eye along the top tree and its out of wack and what I said earlier will work. If its straight with the top tree, the problem is elsewhere. Its possible for the forks to twist in the triple trees, and FX softails are prone to it. If you have a piece of flat glass about 350mm x 200mm, lay it across the fork tubes above the dust seals. It should sit flat, if it rocks on opposite corners loosen the lower pinch bolts and bump the front of the tire left or right til it sits flat, then tighten the pinch bolts. Test ride all day sunday to make sure its good.

I have allways had this problem on my softail, even when I've replaced riser bushes, do solid bushes cure this ?

I thought i had something bent with my bike as when riding and looking down at my bars and lining them up to the top of the front end and also where they sat with the tank ,i was thinking something was wrong . A mate who knows his shit said to me ,you've moved your bars that is why it looks out ,it comes down to this when you tighten up your bars it depends how much you tighten one side to the other as it acts like a ratchet and will pull oneway if to much on one side ,so back off a bit on the low side and make up the tension on the other side and all is good. Hope that makes sense. cheers

I thought i had something bent with my bike as when riding and looking down at my bars and lining them up to the top of the front end and also where they sat with the tank ,i was thinking something was wrong . A mate who knows his shit said to me ,you've moved your bars that is why it looks out ,it comes down to this when you tighten up your bars it depends how much you tighten one side to the other as it acts like a ratchet and will pull oneway if to much on one side ,so back off a bit on the low side and make up the tension on the other side and all is good. Hope that makes sense. cheers

never buy or fit up a part that is not as good as stock Harley or you are just degrading your bike i only fit Harley or better

In terms if the bushings for the riser bolts the oem Harley bushings are made from rubber which degrades over time. I'm gonna change mine to Polyurethane bushings. Arlen ness sell the kit for about $40.

The Poly ones are very good! Have run them for the past 15 years with no issues.