herooftomorrow

Hi All,
Recently rescued a bike from the dumpster that seemed to only need a new inner-tube. After replacing the tube, riding the bike was (mostly) fine, with the exception that the bike has a strong tendency to turn right. You know how on a good bike you can take both of your hands off the bars while you're going fast and keep going straight? if i take my hand off it immediately turns. it's weird and i've never had this happen before. Any suggestions as to what this might be / how to fix it?

other info: 27 1-1/4 wheels, 15 speed, old road bike (gran tour 2?)

MichaelW

bent fork/steerer?

dabac

+1

Or badly bent frame/rear triangle.

easyupbug 

+2, if the basic mechanicals like the headset check out, bad news unless the frame is worth $ in which case a frame builder in your area can straighten/repair.

TireLever-07

Wheels, frame, fork? Any flaking paint might show frame damage. I'd take the front wheel off & turn it around, but it could be more serious. Could have been crashed, or damaged on a car rack or locked up an a street & got run into? Chris

cny-bikeman

OK, here are all the possibilities:

• Wheels not mounted properly in frameI
• Improper dishing of whee
• Rear triangle or fork out of alignment
• Main triangle bent.

Easy to check mounting - should be centered between fork blades, seat chainstays. Google wheel dish and rear triangle string test for those items. Fork is harder to judge and much harder to correct, frame is also difficult to tell and not worth fixing. Headset is a very unlikely cause.

One quick overall test is to put the bike upside down in a stand and sight over the top of the wheels from front to back. They should both be vertical and you should be able to sight along both sides of the front wheel and see the same amount of the rear wheel. You can also sight down both sides of the front toward the main triangle to see if both sides are the same (bent fork).

no1mad 

It is my understanding (and experience) that not every bike lends itself to hands free riding. Nothing wrong with my current bike, yet I can't ride no hands. I have ridden no hands on a couple of different bikes in my lifetime.

FBinNY 

Not quite. Some racing bikes are designed to have very nimble steering, and can be a bit squirrelly for inexperienced riders. It's sort of like cars, large family sedans will straighten out almost immediately if you let go of the wheel in a curve, but sports cars have more neutral steering and will be slower to do so.

But the issue of nimbleness aside, ALL bikes can be ridden no hands and will steer straight when vertical on a flat road. If any bike has a tendency to turn, there's misalignment, which can come from the factors listed before and others acting alone or in combination.

fietsbob

Dumpster bike.. now you know why it went in the bin.

Booger1

Is it an old Ross Gran Tour 2,they were OK bikes in their day....too good for the trash.

It could be as simple as a twitchy bike and a crowned road.

Some bikes are much easier than others to ride with no hands.

AnkleWork

Springy cable housings?

dbg

I don't plan to try it but I suspect negative trail might be virtually impossible to "no hand." (Was wheel and handlebar turned around backwards?)

I recently converted a quite easily no-hand-able road bike from trail of 60 to 45 (more fork offset and 650b wheel conversion) and it became noticeably more difficult to no-hand. Even more so when loaded with weight at a high center.

noglider 

The most likely cause is that the fork blades are pushed to one side. See if the tips (where the wheel axle goes) are centered under the frame. If not, there's your problem. This might be a big job to straighten. It might be easier to replace the fork.

A little less likely is that the front wheel isn't attached properly in the fork. That's easy to fix. Make sure the top of the wheel is centered between the fork blades. To do so, use your sense of touch rather than your vision. Stick the finger of one hand between the side of the wheel and one fork blade. Stick the same finger of the other hand in the corresponding spot on the other side of the wheel, between the wheel and the fork blade. Your fingers will tell you if they are squeezed to the same degree. If the wheel is off-kilter, loosen the skewer or axle nuts (depending on which you have), center the wheel, and re-tighten the skewer or axle nuts.

Check these out. One is likely and hard to fix. Another is less likely but super-easy to fix.

The other causes that @cny-bikeman mentions are also possible, but they are also way down the scale of probability.

We can nail this down if you post clear and detailed pictures, and many of them.

noglider 

I've ridden at least one bike like that. The fork blades had more rake in them than any I had ever seen. I couldn't ride it no-hands. But it did not have a tendency to pull to one side over the other. @herooftomorrow says there is decided preference, so I think he is not describing the same thing you are describing.

seedsbelize 

It's really nice that you've come over here, Tom. Another voice of reason, withe excellent presentation skills.

noglider 

Thank you. Where did I come from?

seedsbelize 

c & v

fietsbob

shift ballast across the boat.

BCRider

You'd be amazed at how much measuring you can do with a simple long straight board and a couple of packing spacers for checking frame alignment. Some of us could simply eyeball it and see it right away. Others either won't trust their eye or will convince themselves that it's an optical illusion. But a good straight board around 5 or 6 feet long, a couple of spacers to set it up and a ruler will find all but the most miniscule damage.

And if it's a steel frame don't be afraid to pack things up and carefully walk on it or jump if needed to get it straight. If it's aluminium then it'll depend on just how much it's bent and how it's bent.

As suggested the road crown can often fool us. Hands off for testing for bent frames is best done on a flat parking lot away from drains that have slopes down towards them. And be sure that YOU are centered and balanced as well. To test it more accurately I'd also want to set myself up so I was riding hands on in a straight line. Then with no other motion I'd lift my hands off the bars only a little so I don't alter my posture. Otherwise I don't know if I'm checking the bike or my slack riding posture.

herooftomorrow

Hi All,
Thanks for the suggestions! Work picked up (as per usual), but I am hoping to try some of these suggestions out tomorrow and I'll let you know what i find. If I can't nail it down I will take some pictures and post them up. Thanks again!

herooftomorrow

Hi All,
Was finally able to work on this. Alas, I did not have a crescent wrench large enough to remove the fork, but it is definitely that. The wheel is almost true (good enough for me). when looking at it straight down, the front wheel is not perpendicular to the ground, it's off maybe 5 degrees. Also, i can see a bit of flaking of the paint near the branch of the fork. In order to bend it back (replacing the fork is more than i'm willing to spend on this), how can i tell if it's steel or aluminum? Also, are there any tools I should look into to help me with this?

Thanks, and sorry for the long delay

FBinNY 

The easiest way to separate (or identify) steel from aluminum is with a magnet. Aluminum isn't magnetic.

many grades of stainless steel aren't magnetic either, but your fork isn't stainless steel, so magnetic = steel, not = aluminum.