But when you are putting your handlebars back on and tightening it all up..aside from looking to see if the bars are straight..is there a simple ‘trick’ to getting them straight first time? I always take a few attempts to get them lined up properly – even to the point of riding and having to get off because they don’t feel right…

Maybe the amswers is to visit the opticians?

http://road.cc/content/news/120175-tune-spurtreu-uses-laser-perfectly-align-your-stem

It’s tricky, with 35mm long stems and the like. I’d be interested in any failsafe methods

Equal is pretty straight forward, many have a marker in the centre. “Straight” is a bit more complicated as the rotation changes the rise, personally is I don’t tighten them up fully until I’ve sat on the bike and checked they feel right. Also the rotation impacts the brakes and shifters position of course which is one key input as to whether you’ve done it right

Jambalaya, good point on my choice of words. Yes, equal is easy because my bars have marks in the middle. I mean the straightness of left hand and right hand when sitting on bike, after tightening back up the headset.

Good post dirtyride – if at least for all the comments made in response to the laser tool..seems I’m not alone in my thoughts….got to be an innuendo there somewhere…

Be interesting to see if anyone posts any ‘tricks’…

Long piece of wood/curb to keep the wheels parallel and a piece of string tied around the seat post used to check the diagonal distance to the ends of your bars?

Personally I just do it by eye, ride it and adjust if needed. Gets me close enough that i don’t notice when riding and not thinking about it.

Ah yes OP I see what you mean. I regularly get that “straight” wrong, I’ve actually ridden one bike not straight (on the p1ss) for quite a few months before bothering to correct it. I mean it’s only a matter of time before I crash again and knock them out of true 😳

Straddle the bike and move back/forward until you see the back of the bars just start to blur with the front of the fork crown.

Helps if you also press the front wheel against a wall.

I just do it by eye while stood over the bike.

Just put a straightedge on the fork ! 🙂

I usually use a 3 ft carpenter’s level on the fork stanchions. Its then very easy to align the handlebar with the straightedge by eye.

I usually do it by eye, and I’ll spend a long time making sure it’s all straight, but then when I ride it sometimes doesn’t feel right and I have to make minor sdjustments on the go until it ‘feels’ right … I think I might have one arm longer than the other so what ‘feels’ right isn’t necessarily dead straight, only a fraction though 😀