Poor Man's Laserish Alingment

[Craniac]

I'm cheap and there are no laser alignment shops near me. So...

Pull the bike onto a smooth, level working area. Make certain the wheels are pointed straight ahead.

Get a three to four foot long straight edge. Place the straight edge on the inside of the tire as high as you can, allow the other end to drop to the floor. Mark where the straight edge contacts the ground with a piece of tape. Pic shows a gap. But if you look straight down, the tape is directly below the straight edge. It does not matter which edge you mark as long as you stay consistent. I put the tape on the outside of the straight edge so the tape was in line with the tire. Then the measurement was taken between the pieces of tape.

Do the same thing towards the rear.


Now do the other side. Then measure the distance between tape marks.


Pics came out poor because the camera was not pointing straight down and I got a parallax error but I had about a quarter inch toe in.

This does NOT check for centering on the rear wheel. It is NOT as good as a laser alignment. I am NOT trying to take business away from any of the vendors. But... it is a quick way to check your alignment. If you find something way out of spec, you will know you need an alignment.

 

[BikerDoc]

So was yours way out of wack or not??

 

[MouthPiece]

I'm cheap and there are no laser alignment shops near me. So...

Pull the bike onto a smooth, level working area. Make certain the wheels are pointed straight ahead.

Get a three to four foot long straight edge. Place the straight edge on the inside of the tire as high as you can, allow the other end to drop to the floor. Mark where the straight edge contacts the ground with a piece of tape. Pic shows a gap. But if you look straight down, the tape is directly below the straight edge. It does not matter which edge you mark as long as you stay consistent. I put the tape on the outside of the straight edge so the tape was in line with the tire. Then the measurement was taken between the pieces of tape.

Do the same thing towards the rear.
View attachment 87885

Now do the other side. Then measure the distance between tape marks.
View attachment 87886View attachment 87887

Pics came out poor because the camera was not pointing straight down and I got a parallax error but I had about a quarter inch toe in.

This does NOT check for centering on the rear wheel. It is NOT as good as a laser alignment. I am NOT trying to take business away from any of the vendors. But... it is a quick way to check your alignment. If you find something way out of spec, you will know you need an alignment.

I think every spyder should have the laser alignment regardless. I know this is anecdotal, but I don't think I've heard of but one, (perhaps two) spyders that were "true" based on what has been reported here.

Chris

 

[SpyderAnn01]

We would be happy to travel to your area to do alignments. Just get 10 or more Spyders together and we will make the trip. As I am pretty confident that your method of aligning your Spyder isn't as accurate as mine, I'll redo yours for free!

 

[Chupaca]

Thanks..!!

great way to check. Most would not know where to go from there but would definately know they need alignment. I also have no laser close by and know mine is out cause if I let go of the bars it will slowly drift to the right. With your process I can see how much I may be out....:thumbup:

 

[Craniac]

This process only checks toe in or out. It does not check for alignment to the rear wheel. A rough idea could be gained by drawing a long line from the front to rear tape marks on both sides. Two points describe a line. Extend the line. The longer the better. A piece of rope could be used to make a 50 foot long line. Then eyeball the center line of the bike to the two lines. If one is noticeably closer than the other, you need an alignment. If not, you may still need one.

My Spyder seems to be well within spec.

I do not know how to set Caster or Camber on the Spyder. I was not aware it could be changed.

Thanks for the offer Spyder Ann but I only know of four Spyders within a hundred miles, so getting ten together might be a little hard.

I guarantee a laser alignment is better.

 

[Craniac]

So was yours way out of wack or not??

Seemed within spec to me. I'm sure a laser alignment would be more accurate.

 

[Gray Ghost]

We will be coming through New Mexico this summer, looks like the closest we would be to you is Santa Rosa. If you are interested we could arrange to meet up and take care of you alignment.

 

[Craniac]

This pic may help


Same thing behind the tires. Total of four marks. I had six and half feet between front and rear marks. So, since I had about a 1/4" toe between the marks, the total toe in on the tires is much less than a 1/4".

If the tires are not pointed straight ahead, the Akerman Compensation will throw off your measurements. Akerman Compensation makes the inside wheel describe a tighter turn than the outside wheel since the radius of the circle it is turning is smaller. The inside wheel needs to turn sharper. So if the wheels are not pointed straight ahead, you will indicate more toe out than you really have.

 

[Craniac]

I don’t have a clue as to what goes on in the front end of a Spyder or any other vehicle for that matter.

But having read through your procedure I’m not at all certain that you have compensated for toe in or camber.

I think what you are proposing is laudable but I would rather have someone like SpyderAnn or Bullant12 align the thing that I straddle at 80mph.

I don't see the harm/danger in checking. If you start messing with the front end, then you can worry. Toe in/out is easy to set. Caster and Camber are a lot harder and need more tools.

I have been setting toe on my own vehicles in the driveway for years. It is easy to check and saves a lot of tire wear and tear.

 

[Craniac]

Any toe out, even a tiny amount, will make your Spyder squirrely. That is why almost all vehicles call for some toe in.

Race cars sometimes go for toe out to help in the turns. But they can be a handful on the straights.

 

[NM Wrench]

Question

Hi When you come through NM will you be coming through Albuquerque? If so I would be interested in getting a laser alignment done. I can also spread the word to find out if anyone else is interested.....Thanks, David

We will be coming through New Mexico this summer, looks like the closest we would be to you is Santa Rosa. If you are interested we could arrange to meet up and take care of you alignment.

 

[Bob Denman]

This is still WAY better than what my Missus came up with, when I brought up laser alignments...
Get a couple of those laser pointers, and duct tape them to your front rims! :yikes:

 

[Gray Ghost]

Hi When you come through NM will you be coming through Albuquerque? If so I would be interested in getting a laser alignment done. I can also spread the word to find out if anyone else is interested.....Thanks, David

Yes, we are coming through Albuquerque. I will put you on the list and we will contact you as we get closer. You can contact me by PM, email ([email protected]) or you can watch our progress on https://www.facebook.com/fargasonservices?ref=hl.

 

[cptjam]

Wish I knew!

We just rolled thru Albuquerque Monday! We have stopped on the way before! We will be in Durango for the owners event.

 

[PMK]

Any toe out, even a tiny amount, will make your Spyder squirrely. That is why almost all vehicles call for some toe in.

Race cars sometimes go for toe out to help in the turns. But they can be a handful on the straights.

We are still not yet Laser Aligned, but will be soon.

I used something similar but purpose designed to set toe on cars / trucks. I did not drag the lines out a great distance, basically tossed my friend on the machine and checked the actual toe with weight on the machine.

It was very close.

However when riding it was pretty good on straights, but tended to turn in hard on account of slight toe out. I gave a look and set the wheels straight and decided which tie rod to adjust. 1/2 turn on one tie rod made the machine a totally different feel and super stable plus smooth through corners. While good, I could just slightly feel the machine just slightly needing more toe in. Went another 1/4 turn toe in...immediately the wife noticed on the next ride. From a bit unstable in corners, to smooth and steady with just a slight tweak made all sorts of difference.

I am curious to see how close I came by feel vs the lasers. Pretty soon we'll know.

PK

 

[TexasSpyder]

Here is the person who came to my garage and did mine Contact Mike at [email protected]. Check with him he might come to your area if there is enough interest.

J. D.

 

[jthornton]

So was yours way out of wack or not??

The service manual states:

Total toe-in (vehicle on ground) -10mm ± 0.5mm (-0.394in ± 0.02in.)

It doesn't say where that is measured... oh here it is 3' in front and 3' behind the axle so over a 6' span.

JT

 

[Craniac]

The service manual states:


It doesn't say where that is measured... oh here it is 3' in front and 3' behind the axle so over a 6' span.

JT

Sounds like I need more toe in. Thanks for the official spec.

 

[DrewNJ]

We have done a few shade tree alignments with a few tape measures and 2 4' lengths of 1.5"x1.5" angle with great success. These machines seem to really respond well to toe.
We have been shooting for about 1/4" over the 4' span. Great handling and no unusual tire wear. Works for us!

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