Hitchcocks Forum

Dear all,
I'm an enthusiastic but often perplexed owner of a 2015 B5 Bullet named Lola. Yesterday, Unable to avoid the usual potholes when exiting the village due to the over-optimistic overtaking maneuvers of an Audi, I hit a few. (A few potholes that is, not Audis. Or is it Audies?). Anyway, I noticed a slight clunk from the from the front of the bike when bumping over said potholes. Once I noticed it, I realized it was there quite often - level crossings, speed bumps, pheasants, but never on smooth parts of the road or when breaking. Anyway, I got home and popped a block of wood under the center-stand and balanced a suitably-weighted small daughter on the back of the bike to raise the front and gave the forks a good tug and voila! The clunk! The headstock is a little loose. From bicycle maintenance parlance I would regard it as 'annoying' and not 'get it sorted' quite yet as there is just a little bit of play, enough to give a slight clunk when really yanking. So, my question is, how to adjust such a thing? The workshop manual is rather silent on such matters, giving a rather grainy picture of something that could be bigfoot with an arrow pointing at it and some irrelevant accompanying text. The Youtube videos on such matters on different brands of bike all show quite exciting bits of mechanics, none of which I have. I just have 'THE BIG NUT'. Now is it a case of just cranking up THE BIG NUT until all play stops but the bearings still run smooth or is there more to it than that?

Any help appreciated. I have a big spanner.

Not done on my C5 yet - no need (IIRC we bought our bikes at around the same time). Usually it involves slackening the fork legs in the yokes too, to allow movement. Also there is usually a pinch bolt to slacken off. This bolt holds the adjustment. Basically though you need to tighten the adjuster nut just sufficiently to eliminate play. Overtighten and the races will indent, usually around the straight ahead position. Bettter slightly loose than tight, though spot-on should be attainable as long as the races haven't already indented.

Right, had a look at my bike and w/shop manual now. It doesn't have a pinchbolt. All you have to do is slacken the two nuts holding the stanchions in the lower yoke, tighten the big shiny nut on the fork crown to just eliminate play, re-tighten the nuts to the yoke clamp bolts and have a drink of your choice... I assume you realise you have to jack up the front of the bike. (Sorry, but I frequent too many forums on which our American friends reside. They are either exceedingly knowledgeable - eg on EFI - or complete numpties that I'm glad I don't share the road with).

My 2015 B5 has a Pinchbolt which is loosened with a suitably sized Allen key inserted at about the 7 o'clock position to the rear of the upper section of the casquette.

You guys are just brilliant, thanks for that. I do have a pinchbolt with an allen head, and I'd never have spotted it without your picture Ric, and I've found the two bolts holding the bottom yoke. My indicators are also attached there, so they'll have to come off first methinks...