Modern Buddy

I had a bit of an incident on the way to work this morning, a lady pulled out to turn left onto a busy street when she thought she had an opening. She changed her mind halfway through. She stopped in the middle of the road, and the car in front of me slammed on their brakes, and I in turn grabbed a handful, and next thing I know the Buddy is washing out from under me and we both go sliding across the pavement. We both got a little dinged up, but mostly functional. I was able to ride to work and make it through the day.

A couple issues have arisen now, and I want to get your guys' opinions before I start taking things apart. The steering alignment is way off now--the headlight points left when I go straight. I lowsided on a motorcycle once before and had the same issue. I was able to solve the problem then by loosening the axle bolt and pumping the front end up and down a few times. Tried that on the Buddy and it didn't seem to do anything. Any advice on what else can be done?

The second issue is that it doesn't want to start now. When I left work, I turned the key and hit the starter, and it didn't do anything. No click, no crank, nothin. I flipped the kill switch a couple times and turned the key on/off a couple times, and inexplicably, it cranked over when I tried it again. I just tried to start it again, but couldn't get it to do anything, regardless of fiddling. I'm thinking it may have something to do with the brake sensor/switch not functioning?

TIA for any help.

Tim, sorry to hear about your slide.

The jiggle of the kill switch, and subsequent start, leads me to believe the problem is somewhere near there. You have two brake switches - front and rear, and either one will interlock with the starting circuit. Most folks grip the left (rear) brake when starting, but try gripping the right brake when hitting the starter and see. But if there's no difference in behavior, it might lead you back to the kill switch and potential misalignment or damage there.

If you remove the front cover, you will be able to see how the handlebar clamps onto the fork. It's a 17mm nut - loosen that and you'll be able to straighten the handlebar.

Well, I dug into it a bit, and was unsuccessful in getting the wheel to line back up with the handlebars. I loosened every bolt that seemed like it'd matter, took the front wheel off and the forks were definitely askew. I pulled off both forks, and seeing them side by side, my right fork is definitely bent. Anyone know how much a replacement might run? I was able to find the entire fork assembly for $320, and see aftermarket tubes for around $260, but naturally I want to spend less, since I only need the one fork tube.

On the other hand, it seems the electrical gremlin has gone away, or at least into hiding. Ever since my original post, I haven't had any issues with it starting, so I guess that's something.