ctpres

Need some ideas to get me started or maybe it is beyond my skills and needs a pro. Keeping bike straight requires constant attention. When my mind wanders - bike drifts to left side of lane. So I stay on the left most of the time. Never noticed problem till I started riding around a nice wide path with virtually no bike traffic. Ten foot wide, flat and very smooth surface is great.

Jed19

Brinelled headset bearing cone race?

berner

I had a similar problem with a brand spanking new aluminum bike. Much very careful measurement and alignment checking with a string alongside the tires and a carpenters level revealed that the front and back wheels were nor perfectly aligned. One wheel was offset several mm to one side. More checking and many cups of tea later I was able to determine that the front dropouts caused the front wheel to tip to one side. Once the cause was isolated, the cure was simple. I filed the dropout with a rat rail file until that wheel was straight and plumb. Now I can ride, for a bit anyway, with no hands but the best part is the bike holds a very nice groove around corners. Search here on Mechanics for more discussion of this problem.

hueyhoolihan

i have a bike that is so sensitive, steering wise, that when riding hands-free it always wants to head off in one direction or another. it would only behave once the tires squared off a little. that's sensitive! i've noticed that it does have an unusually steep headtube angle.

the most stable bike i have is a '97 Gary Fisher ridgid steel MTB. it has a very slack headtube angle. hmmm.

but short of a flat front tire, a poorly adjusted or worn out headset (as mentioned), IME, trumps all.

FBinNY 

The first thing you need to figure out is whether it's the bike or you. Find a level parking lot and ride no hands for a while and see if you need to use some seat of the pants angling of the frame to the left or right to keep the bike riding straight. If not, then it's you, and there could be any sort of subconscious forces at work here.

BTW- if you don't have this issue on roads but only on bike paths it might be related to the camber or lack of the roads vs. the paths. Also understand that years of riding have you programmed to go where the eyes are looking. It's possible, that for whatever reason, you tend to look left more in the park than you on the road.

Andrew R Stewart 

There needs to be more details for us to have any chance of guessing what's amiss. Far more then is easily dealt with in this format. Which bike. When did this become known or change from before. Has an experienced eye seen the bike. Are the wheels in correctly. Have there been any fall downs or other impacts. The list goes on. Andy.

GravelMN

A number of things will cause a bike to track poorly:

- Wheel not seated properly in the dropouts
- Wheel not properly dished
- Worn or damaged headset
- Bent fork or frame

Headtube angle, rake and trail of the fork can make a bike more difficult to keep in a straight line, but it shouldn't favor left or right. A pull consistently to one side means that there is something out of alignment (barring rider issues).

Delmarva

Are the handlebars out of alignment with the front wheel?

djb

Pretty clear to me, rampant Liberalism is the cause here.

sickz

the rider would indicate 'notchy' steering if this was the case.

ctpres

Thanks for the starter ideas. Next time bike on work stand I will get the string out. Thanks again for giving me some places to start.