Suzuki 2 Strokes

I am having trouble aligning the forks on my 1971 T250. I had the forks rebuilt a few years ago and did not ride the bike for a few years after that as I was rebuilding the engine and doing other odd things to it. I loosened the clamps, fender and axle. I bounced on the bike vigorously. I braced the wheel up against my four-post lift and twisted but I succeeded in only getting it a little closer to straight. Any other suggestions?

I was taught a parallel bars method here - bungy-tie on two long pieces of straight, box-section steel across the forks, one as high as you can, the other low down on the outers, the align by loosening and twisting so that the 2 metre bars are parallel, then nipping everything up. It works well so long as nothing is actually bent, like a fork leg or triple tree clamp!
If all is well and parallel, but still stiff, take all the oil out and test whether damping is excessive. Oils vary hugely in their viscosity and if its too high, it can somewhat mimic stiff forks. Also, some double-lipped aftermarket seals can grip the leg so tightly that, on a light bike, the forks can feel stiff.
Mike

I do it somewhat differently. I assemble the front end including wheel and axle. It is key that the axle caps be tight. Then I loosen the triple clamps on one side. Bounce it up and down to properly position the other fork leg that I loosened.
Something does sound bent in your case. The best way to tell requires them to be disassembled again. Lay the tubes on a flat surface and roll them against each other. They should lay tightly together as you roll. If you see gaps or the tubes separate at one end, one or both are bent. If you force them in line on the bike, they will bind. My first 550 was that way. Actually kinked at the lower tree. Tried to straighten on a hydraulic press using an aluminum pusher block. All I did was put a bunch of dents in the tube.. I got some good tubes and when I went to install them, I discovered the lower tree was bent as well. Put one tube in bottom and top. When I pushed the other tube in, it missed the upper tree hone by nearly 3/4 on an inch.. I had to replace the entire tree assembly.

Frame is not bent, triples look ok and when forks were rebuilt, they were checked for straightness and were deemed straight. This definitely seems like an alignment problem. What it looks like to me is the forks are straight, but the upper yoke is not centered properly.

Edit:

Persuaded the forks a but more and it looks straight now. Will road test soon.

Something is bent and I would guess it's the lower triple clamp.

Take the forks off or at least remove the front wheel and axle and fender and see if the two legs are completely parallel. If they are not, then the lower triple is slightly twisted and can be bent back.

Everything lines up right now. Bars are straight when the front wheel is straight.

Well, where's the fun in that?

Rode it today. She is straight as an arrow.

Its always nice to read a post for the first time when everything has already been fixed