How To Tell If Your Motorcycle’s Handlebar Is Bent

Your motorcycle’s handlebar might look pretty good, but even a slow drop at just the wrong place can bend it in a way that’s hard to see.

A bend in your handlebar can cause unpredictable and unsafe motorcycle steering, so in today’s video and blog post we’re going to look at four ways to tell if your handlebar may have been bent from a drop and we’re also going to be looking at four other common issues that could be impacting your motorcycle’s handling and steering.

Four ways to tell if your motorcycle handlebar is bent.

There are four main ways of telling that your handlebar is bent: how it feels when you’re riding, how it feels when you’re sitting on it, what the bar looks like, and what it’s measurements are.

1) The feeling when you’re riding the motorcycle

If you just crashed your motorcycle and the handling seems a little bit off the next time you ride it, that’s usually a good sign your handlebar is bent. You might only feel it more when you’re turning or leaning, but if something feels not quite right when everything felt okay before an accident, it’s worth investigating a bent handlebar.

2) How the motorcycle feels when you’re sitting on it

How a motorcycle feels when you’re sitting on it, can tell you a lot. You’ll need a friend for this:

Have a friend stand in front of you while you sit on your motorcycle. Bring the motorcycle off the kickstand, holding it upright as you stay seated, or standing if you can’t reach. Grip the handlebars, close your eyes, and pull the handlebar left and right with your eyes closed until you feel like you’re holding the front tire perfectly center. Now ask your friend if your front tire is straight or pointing to one side or the other.

You can also keep your eyes closed, and have your friend tell you how to turn your handlebar until your front tire is pointed perfectly straight forward, and see how your arms feel. Open your eyes. Does everything look straight?

3) How the handlebar looks when you’re sitting on the bike

Speaking of how things look, let’s take a really close look at your handlebar and all of it’s bends and angles.

Look at the rise of the handlebar. Does one side rise higher or lower then the other, or further backward or further forward than the other? Look at the angles from above the handlebar’s rise, to where the bars flare out, and all the way to the grips. Is every bend and angle symmetrical to the other side?

4) Use a measuring tape

If you want to be 100% sure your handlebars are bent, look for something right in the center of the tank. A point on a gas tank filler cap is often ideal, if your tank cap is in the center of the motorcycle.

Position the front tire completely straight forward, then measure from the center point to the furthest corner of the bar end on both sides. If one side is noticeably longer than the other (for example, my left bar end was 1.5″ closer than my right one) then it’s a good sign your handlebar is bent.

Who am I?

I probably should have introduced myself sooner. Hi, I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle! I make videos that help motorcyclists.

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Four more things that could negatively impact your motorcycle’s handling

A bent handlebar isn’t the only thing that could have a negative impact on your motorcycle’s handling. Bad tires, rear wheel alignment, incorrect tire pressure, and bent fork tubes could also be detrimental to your handling performance.

1) Your tires may need replacing

One of the most dangerous issues you can have with your motorcycle are old, worn, or just bad tires. The right tires can save your life, and the wrong tires can put you in a lot of unnecessary danger. I have a video and article on seven ways to tell if your motorcycle tires need replacing, you should watch it.

Please make sure you know all seven ways of telling that your tire might need replacing. It could save your life.

2) Your rear wheel may be out of alignment

I recommend everyone own a motorcycle chain alignment tool. They’re small, only cost $8, and will let you know if your rear wheel is aligned correctly or not.

They mount to the rear chain sprocket, and have a long straight rod sticking out. When you have the chain alignment tool installed correctly, the rod should run directly inline with the motorcycle’s chain. If the rod and alignment are not lined up correctly, than your motorcycle’s rear wheel is out of alignment and must be adjusted.

Pro Tip: Traditionally, you’re supposed to remove the chain guard and work from the top down to use the chain alignment tool. However, if you turn on your smart phone’s front facing camera, and place the camera lens directly under the chain, you can simply install the alignment tool to the bottom of the rear sprocket and check your phone screen (or record a video) to make sure everything is well aligned.

3) Your tire pressure may be off (most likely too low)

Incorrect tire pressure is the most common reason for bad motorcycle handling. It can happen whether you’ve had an accident or not. It’s often the result of owners not understanding the importance of checking their tire pressures at least once or twice a month.

Your tires can lose 1-2 PSI per week naturally, whether you’re riding the motorcycle or not, especially in cooler conditions. Running with low tire pressure can make your motorcycle feel extremely awkward and unpredictable and is pretty dangerous.

If the feeling you’re getting from your motorcycle’s handling seems sketchy, you haven’t crashed or drop the bike lately, and you don’t remember the last time you checked your tire pressure, just check your tire pressure. That’s probably all your problem is.

4) Your forks might be bent

If you’ve suffered a hard crash, there’s a chance your front forks may be bent. This typically won’t happen from a slow speed tipover, but can happen in higher speed accidents and especially in collisions.

Your front forks being bent can often lead to a motorcycle being written off by the insurance companies, as replacing the front end can be really expensive. It’s important to be able to know what to look for so you know how best to proceed, as you may or may not always want to go through the insurance company.

Many people can look from the top down their forks and see if the forks are straight or not. I don’t possess that skill, or at least, I don’t trust myself to get it right.

Instead, I use technology. I take pictures of the front forks from a few angle. Then I photoshop a line from the axle to the suspension adjuster at the top. The line should stay relatively centered between the edges of the forks. If the line is evenly centered at the top and the bottom, but not even centered in the middle, that’s where the bend in your forks are.