hi folks. my bike hit the ground in some mysterious event before i bought it and the bars have always appeared to be crooked. i loosened up the bottom nut below the rubber dampers to see if anything would move around and that didn't help. i suppose the bars could be correct and something else is out of alignment. the issue doesn't really interfere with driving but sitting there and looking at it is starting to irk me! has anyone had a similar issue?

and speaking of which is there any better alternative to the rubber dampers they use? just seems like you would want a more secure attachment to the fork assembly. i guess the rubber dampens some or a lot of the vibrations, how do they deal with this issue on more current bikes? mine will need to be replaced in the future as they are starting to crack up.

probably many ways to deal with the rubber mounts
1 > you could install washers above and below he rubbers to tighten them up ....and take the flex out a bit
2> get a k75 top triple clamp ...which I believe are solid mounts

just a couple of suggestions

My 85 rs seems to be the same way.......it's been hit all over in it's previous life. I expect my bars are bent but when I had it apart I tried & tried, but could not find a logical way to actually measure & compare left to right.

I did discover that I could "cheat fix" some of this mis-aligned appearance. When re-assembling having the bar clamps not quite tight and holding the front fork securely to the right I exerted substantial pressure back toward the right on the bars hence slightly "rotating" both clamps (in opposite directions) and while holding the pressure, quickly tightening up the bar clamps in that position. That has the effect of "springing" or "twisting" the left clamping post slightly forward in its springy rubber mount while pulling the right mounting post slightly rearward against it's rubber bushing.

Sounds scary, maybe, but it made my bars closer to in appearance alignment.

Now if I could just figure out how to do that with the front fairing mount......LOL Lots of different angles involved when sitting in the seat & trying to look straight ahead.........I think something always seems to appear "out of line".
Regards, Ibj....

ok thanks for the ideas. i looked at the k75 parts diagram but couldn't find the picture for the bottom of the clamps, but will look again. it does have the stock " shims" on there( look like washers to me). and btw my clamps appear to be different from the fiche as the top piece ( with two bolt holes) has the holes recessed for the bolt heads . and the wave washers won't fit down that hole. i've looked at the other models but can't find what i have. anyway not a big deal.

the last couple of times i've been out riding i've really been knocked around by the wind. i don't remember that being much of as issue with my last bike ,91 yamaha fj. but it has been a while since i had that and looking at the pictures of it , it does look much more aerodynamic. i've been going over mtn passes at highway speeds and on a windy day a few weeks ago i was doing some serious pushing on the bars to stay upright!

I have some straight k100 bars off a '91 I would sell you...problem solved