Virago 500 HELP!!!!!

Ok First thanks to all with the help on my Maxim

Now I am helping my buddy with an 1983 XV500 Virago. Ironic because he bought a bike the same year as mine.

I digress, it runs and drives fine with one exception. On hard and I mean hard acceleration the clutch will slip a little. No big deal will deal with that latter.

The real issue it the front end. The forks and/or the triple tree is bent.
Now the question: If so what other forks will fit this bike???? Years??Models??

Thanks

I know nothing about the 500xv. I would think there is a forum for that bike also. Search the web and see what comes up

I have and am waiting for "board approval" but thought I would tickle the brains here also.

All balls racing has a chart on their website.

For the clutch slippage, first try adjusting the clutch. After that, the next easiest thing to try is changing the oil. Make sure to use an oil designed for motorcycles with wet clutches. After that its wither clutch disks and/or springs.

After my crash this past summer, the front end was out of alignment and it appeared the forks or tree might be bent.

An old timer who was helping me couldn't see any kink or bend when he looked at each individual part in isolation, yet the front end pointed the wrong way. He said it was common and advised me to raise the front end off the ground using a rope from above (not a shim under the wheel). Then loosen off all the clamps just enough so that that the tubes can twist. Then twist each fork tube through 360 degrees. If the tube doesn't bind and refuse to rotate all the way, then it is not bent. I then rotated each one so it was 180 degrees opposite its original position, adjusted the vertical position of each so that they were identical in length going down to the wheel, then tightened up four clamp bolts.

I was advised to do the tightening like one does the lugs on a car wheel - cross-rotating several times from bolt to bolt, tightening a bit each time until the torque is proper for each.

Sure enough, the front end was perfectly straight afterwards. I even verified (tentatively) with the hands-off-the-bars-test (at around 30 - 40 mph in the middle of a stretch of smooth pavement) to see if it pulled either way. It didn't. Good to go.

Unless there's an obvious kink or a visible bend in a tube, it's worth a try before buying parts.