Maybe Just Me....

[erilude]

My bike tends to pull left. Is this the natural tendancy of the Kat or do I need an alignment?

[Range]

not natural....check the forks...but my guess is that the front and rear tire are not tracking true....this can be checked simply enough with string attached to the rear rim.....go around the rear of the rear wheel....then slowly draw it up against the front sidewall of the rear tire.....you should be at the front of the bike.....doing this on both sides...the front tire should fall BETWEEN the two strings equally!

[slayergsxf1]

Are you the origional owner??If not maybe the frame is bent..Just one drop even standing still can tweek the frame alittle..If you are the origional owner and its never been dropped like range said rear wheel out of alignment or forks not set right..good luck dude..And how bad does it pull left??

[erilude]

Well...I can't let the handle go. I have to have atleast one hand on it.

[01blewkat]

tourque tends to pull the rear wheel aout of align, check the alignment markers on the swingarm. Mine does this every so often.

[skotty]

My bike used to turn left when I let go of the handle. After replacing the tires, I had no more of that problem.

[WildKat]

Definately not a common occurence at all. How's the quality of your tires, have you noticed wearing severly on one side vs the other?

[The CyberPoet]

Aside from a potentially misaligned rear wheel (common):

It's also common occurance for riders with older tires who rode on crowned roads a lot (same thing in reverse in countries where people drive on the left). As the tire wears over crowned roads, it wears more on the left than the right, and with heavy wear that tends to make the bike want to steer left on flat surfaces.

New tires and the problem should go away. If not, there is something seriously wrong that needs to be addressed, such as a draging brake pad or damage to the frame. It takes quite a bit of frame damage on the Kat to normally cause this problem (advantage for steel full-cage frames).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[rwcreigh]

i agree,what do your tires look like?

[erilude]

My Tires look even with full thread. I'll double check tho.