Bicycle Mechanics - Wrecked my bike, now it wants to fall to the right

Has a small crash on my bike last week. Front tire wasn't tight in the dropouts, hit a bump, it slipped out and I took a header. Nothing looks out of place, got everything back together fine, but this morning I noticed a problem. The tire rubs the brake pad just a bit, until I get moving. But now, when I let go of the bars and sit up, the bike wants to fall over to the right. It just won't roll straight. My left arm was sore when I got back in, I guess from subconciously righting the bike. It's like something's wrong with the geometry or something.

So what happened to cause that? Did I bend my fork, or is my wheel out of true? The wheel looks fine, but I guess it may not be. Just wondering what to look for and what it might take to get it corrected.

when I let go of the bars and sit up, the bike wants to fall over to the right

In my experience, there are two things that would make that happen. One is a bent fork, and the other is having your front hub not locked into the dropouts correctly.

If one side of the front hub is a couple millimeters "too low" in the dropout (or the dropout placed "too high" on the hub, you could say) then it's as if one of the fork blades is longer than the other. Which has a similar effect to a bent fork.

If you have a flexible steel fork (like the road bike fork I had that got bent) then it's possible to (very carefully) bend it back.

In my experience, there are two things that would make that happen. One is a bent fork, and the other is having your front hub not locked into the dropouts correctly.

If one side of the front hub is a couple millimeters "too low" in the dropout (or the dropout placed "too high" on the hub, you could say) then it's as if one of the fork blades is longer than the other. Which has a similar effect to a bent fork.

If you have a flexible steel fork (like the road bike fork I had that got bent) then it's possible to (very carefully) bend it back.

That's kind of what I was thinking. Also, I put the wheel in to start with, and it rubbed the right brake pad pretty good. Took it out, turned it around, put it back in, much better, just rubbed a little on the left until I got going.

Any way to tell which arm of the fork needs to be adjusted. The bike was lying on it's right side when I landed, if that's any clue. :D

Take it to a good LBS, they should be able to tell how much it is tweeked and be able to tweek it back if they have the right tools. When I bent mine many years ago, they had a special tool for bending the legs back. Even after that, it never quite felt right. I recently just got back into cycling and got a replacement carbon fork instead.

Bunk


That's kind of what I was thinking. Also, I put the wheel in to start with, and it rubbed the right brake pad pretty good. Took it out, turned it around, put it back in, much better, just rubbed a little on the left until I got going.

Any way to tell which arm of the fork needs to be adjusted. The bike was lying on it's right side when I landed, if that's any clue. :D