U156531

I have a road bike and when I take my hands off the handle bar it immediately turns right. Does anyone know what would cause this to happen?

Clang

Most likely the frame got warped/bent in a collision. You can get the alignment checked and maybe corrected, but the expense will probably be more than another old bike.

Mr. 66

Clang is probably right, some kind of damage has occurred, and the alignment has been affected.

Eyes Roll

She wants you to always put your both hands on the handlebar, bruh.

markk900

If you do some searching you can find ways to check your alignment easily and cheaply with string and a ruler. You may find the source of your problem that way quickly and then you can decide whether repair is a viable option.

It doesn’t take a lot of tweaking of a fork or frame to cause it to be out of alignment; good news is if the damage is not too bad it also doesn’t take a lot to get it back to proper.

randyjawa 

Frame and/or fork damage is the most likely cause of the problem. If you could show some pictures of the bike, taken square on from the drive and the non-drive sides, that would be a help...


This not quite square shot shows the damage to the fork...


Pictures of the head tube junctions with the top and down tubes would also prove helpful. Look for cracks in the paint, a sure indicator of damage to the geometry of the frame and/or fork set. Damage to geometry == bent...


A picture, taken from the front of the bike and that clearly shows how the front wheel is centered in the fork will also prove useful. Look to see if the rim/tire splits the distance from the fork blades evenly...


One last thing could be a too tight headset and, worse yet, a too tight headset with damaged races, causing head set indexing, That can cause a bike to pull one way or the other.

Hope that is helpful.

Cynikal 

I'll second the frame/fork alignment as the first thing to check but also check your headset to make sure it isn't indexed (damaged where the bearings have created dents in the races and tend to stay there). Also make sure your shifter/brake cable isn't pulling.

79pmooney

Welcome to Bike Forums!
@U156531, stick around. Post your 10 posts to this thread or any others of interest. (I think this will take you a day or three. The forum is set up to defeat spammers who have brought it to its knees a few times. Tough on you newcomers.) With 10 posts you will be able to post pictures of your bike. That will help us diagnose what's going on or suggest the next next thing for you to look at or photograph.

79pmooney

I had a bike like that once. It steered left so hard I wasn't strong enough to even steer it straight. (The fact that the front wheel and down tube overlapped 2 inches might have had something to do with it.)

The result of one of the funniest crash I ever did. Totally off topic but I'll share it anyway. I was riding home Friday evening after pizza with friends. I'd just turned into the driveway for the parking to two adjacent public schools, a shortcut I'd been making for decades that avoided a high risk stretch of street. Up to that point I'd been riding with my halogen headlight off as the streets were well lit and clean. No lights on the school grounds. I went to turn the light on so I could get past the initial blinding light and have my eyes back before the gate I was about to ride through with its near invisible posts and chainlink fence.

Well, a young couple was walking ahead of me, hand in hand. Nice! I didn't want to blind them with the headlight blast so I waited until I was past them. Hit the light. Promptly got the predictable blinding and rode right into the fence! Over the next two feet there was a smooth bending of steel bringing me gently to a stop. The gatepost, now bent back at the top about 4 feet, the next post two feet, my fork more than the photo above and the top and down tubes enough to get that overlap. (This on a Miyata 610; a very well built bike diamond that had withstood two head-on crashes with no damage at all before.)

That young couple found what they witnessed pretty hilarious. I can hardly blame them. I was completely unhurt. Sad that my most reliable and highest mileage winter/ran/city fix gear frame was now dead but it never fit me very well so there was that. Had to make the call of shame to one of my pizza buddies.