steering head

[kaw814]

Still trying to sort out some weirdness in my steering head. It seems that on every drop in the woods forces me to readjust the bars to line up with the triple clamps. The bearings and races are brand new, the upper triple clamp is torqued to 33 ft lb, the lower spanner is hand tightened, the upper and lower triple clamp bolt 14.5 and 18 ft/lb respectively. All per manual specs listed in Cyclepedia for the kdx 220A. I dont imagine it would be the bar mounts themselves. Ive got new 1 1/8 pro tapers going on tomorrow with the G2 hanguards/and inserts so m hoping to figure this out. Ive got approx 8 hrs of normal trail riding on the new bearings and races. The manual stated that several adjustments may be necessary after bearing replacement. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this. Its not terribly troubling , everything is stable during use, but the head does seem to tweak too easily when the bike is laid down

[KDXGarage]

Do you have rubber mounted bars? Do you have a single piece top handlebar clamp or the stock two pieces?

[kaw814]

2 piece handlebar clamps...as far as rubber mounting, i do have the rubber dampers if thats what you are referring to. I have the 1 7/8 bars so the adapters to acommodate are on there as well

[KDXMainer]

My bike did the same thing. You need to replace the rubber pieces with solid pieces. Very easy swap. The solid pieces are in eBay for like 6 bucks.

[doakley]

Check that the large flat washers beneath the rubber mounts are flat. If you fall hard on the bars they can be bent. Just hammer back flat on a hard surface. Pretty common. Personally I like he rubber mounts.

[bufftester]

The rubber mounts are crap, you will spend a lot of time readjusting the bars if those dampers are old (like they are on most bikes). I went the CNC cone route and just got rid of them, no more twisted bars. If you can find one the one piece upper clamp off a KX250 is a good replacement for the stock 2 pieces.