lyrictenor1

When I place my bike in repair stand, if I pick it up, or if I had on to the bike (with the wheels on the ground) by anywhere but the handlebars, the steerer naturally turns right for some reason, and never wants to turn left on its own. Is this normal? My other bike does not exhibit the same behavior. The bike in question is relatively new (about a week old); I didn't notice this issue until today...

About 30 mins earlier, my stupid self fell off the rollers on to the left side of the bike. I don't think I fell hard, but the left side of the handlebar did strike the ground and left a couple of scratches on the shifter (105).Might I have bent something? The fork is carbon.

The pic is an example of how the steerer tends to want to rest.

Drew Eckhardt 

The rear brake housing on the left side looks like it's long and pushing everything over to the right side. It'd be easy to disconnect the rear brake cable, remove the housing from the stop, and see where it ends up without that.

Andrew R Stewart 

+1. Followed by the question of- what happens while you're riding? Does the bike tend to still steer to one side? Cable induced swing is usually never felt while riding. Andy.

StanSeven

Yeah that left cable is way too long. Most bikes don't have that much extra length

FBinNY 

Whatever happens on a stand, or when the bike is stationary is meaningless. Or if it has any meaning it's that your headset spins nice and freely.

The small forces that things like cable housings exert, or even because your repair stand is out of plumb will move a fork to one side or the other.

The real test is how it rides. If you can ride no hands and the tracks true and responds correctly to hip steering, then it's fine.

lyrictenor1

Thanks for the quick responses! This place is awesome!

When I'm riding with one or two hands, I don't feel the need to make constant corrections to the left, so I guess the answer to your question is no. It tracks pretty straight in that situation.

When I ride with no hands, the steerer does move to the right, but I'm wondering if that's because of the cables (if that's the problem) and no other force is acting against them, the road camber, or both.



Sorry for the n00b question, but how would I go about shortening the length of the cable housing? I'm assuming that I cut the excess using diagonal cutting pliers and then pull the rest of the cable through until the housing reaches the stop?

lyrictenor1

The headset seems to move freely, though it does feel like it moves the right more easily than the left, as far as forces go. That's just measuring from my arms.

ultraman6970

You have to check the vituplins, they might need to be replaced.

Bezalel

It's by design. Right turns are done with a smaller turning radius than left turns making right turns sharper. In order to increase efficiency there is a bias to steer right. The bias is created by the rear brake cable, that is why in England the brakes are reversed.

In truth whatever biases are present when the bike is at rest are insignificant compared to the forces applied while riding (I don't even notice it when riding with one pannier).

dsbrantjr

"Sorry for the n00b question, but how would I go about shortening the length of the cable housing? I'm assuming that I cut the excess using diagonal cutting pliers and then pull the rest of the cable through until the housing reaches the stop?"

Don't forget to remove the shift wire from the housing before you cut it; don't ask how I found this out!

You will then need to grind or file the cut end(s) until they are flat and free of burs and ensure that the opening is nicely rounded out, here's an article with photos: https://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html#housing

Andrew R Stewart 

A last comment about bikes that seem to steer a bit off. When riding no handed many people tend to lean to one side or the other. Whether it's leg lengths being unequal or other body issues or just that some find it's more stable to induce a touch of preload in a system is your guess/choice. But i see riders (including myself) who favor a slight lean of the upper body when no handing. I find myself leaning slightly to my left. When i ride many bikes (say during after service test rides) and one requires a lean to my right I suspect that bike's steering/alignment. Andy.

cny-bikeman

If it does that on a flat surface like a parking lot (not the side of a crowned road) then something is off. I don't know that a housing would exert enough force. Could be a mis-mounted or off dish wheel or a very slightly out of alignment fork. If it's not a big problem don't worry about it.

lyrictenor1

Thanks everyone. I'm going out on a ride today and see if it really bothers me. Took it out for a short run to the store yesterday and rode it on the rollers this morning and seemed to handle fine. Will just keep an eye on it and take more action only if needed. Thanks!

easyupbug 

I have found that a bike with a serious alignment issue with the frame or fork or both such as not able to ride w/o hands will when hung upside down by string around the rims (hanging points need to be directly over the dropouts) the fork/frame will not be aligned and at a very noticeable angle to each other.

fietsbob

Road crowns are for drainage , in the US its higher to your left, UK Au-NZ, and Japan its on your right.