new rider seeks help

I'm still a new rider (10months). I'm in japan and the march 11 earthquake caused the only known drop of my bike(a Suzuki st250). it bent the right foot peg, broke the front brake lever and caused some scratches here and there. i had the foot peg and lever fixed right away. I've kept the biker properly maintained by a local shop. the past month or two the bike has been feeling more and more crooked when I'm riding. my mechanic says the front fork and wheel alignments are fine. he also said the handlebar is a little bent. i can feel the the bend in the handlebar, i also feel something wrong in the left side of my seat(like it's support been depressed). when i coast down a hill and let go of the grips(with the hands hover mere millimeters from them), instead of the bike tracking upright and straight for a bit the front wants to immediately turn left and the bike wants to lean to the right. what could be wrong with my bike?  

I would re-check the fork tube alignment, as well as the steering head bearings.

Good place to start anyway, wish you the best.  

Maybe you rear wheel is out of line. Have you adjusted the chain lately?

A tip over from the quake shouldn't bend anything major.

Unless a house fell on top of the bike that is.  

your bike fell on its right side,  and which side do you feel the bike wander towards?

i would start by installing an unbent handlebar. that may not be your actual problem, but tweeked bars, imho, sukk!  

took the bike to the shop for a more thorough inspection. they rode it around a bit and came back and told me this. they think maybe the fork tubes/stem is bent and that there is something bent in the swing arm. i'm having them pick it up tomorrow morning so they can take it apart and check everything. i might be spending anywhere from 300-600+ dollars on getting it fixed. i purchased it for a 1,000 so i'm wondering if i should just sell it for parts and upgrade to a larger bike.  

sunhawk:
took the bike to the shop for a more thorough inspection. they rode it around a bit and came back and told me this. they think maybe the fork tubes/stem is bent and that there is something bent in the swing arm. i'm having them pick it up tomorrow morning so they can take it apart and check everything. i might be spending anywhere from 300-600+ dollars on getting it fixed. i purchased it for a 1,000 so i'm wondering if i should just sell it for parts and upgrade to a larger bike.

Upgrading is generally a good thing, may be time to move upward and onward!

What I have found is when the handlebars are bent, sometimes the fork tubes get "tweeked" in the triple clamps. By loosening the triple clamps, repositioning the forks and tightening everything back down, well, I've "fixed" more than one motorcycle this way.

If the bike only tipped over, I have a hard time with the fork tubes being bent - or swingarm damage enough to cause a problem.

Good luck  

it puzzles me how things on my bike could be bent. only thing i can think of is that i'm a 6'1" 215 guy riding a very lightly built bike. the pavement on base is horrid and its near impossible to not hit a bump/hole hard at least once a day.  

sunhawk:
it puzzles me how things on my bike could be bent. only thing i can think of is that i'm a 6'1" 215 guy riding a very lightly built bike. the pavement on base is horrid and its near impossible to not hit a bump/hole hard at least once a day.

even more the reason to buy a bigger bike!    

i seriously doubt the swing arm  is bent. i am beginning to wonder about this shop.
bars are cheap. replace it. then loosen the triple tree pinch bolts to just enuff to hold the front end together, have a pal straddle the front end to keep the wheel from moving, and you give a good yank on the bars back the way it fell. you should be able to look down and get a general idea what moving for you.
then, pump the suspension  a few time. ya know pushing down on the bars and letting up quick. then tighten the pinch bolts back up.  

what if it isn't something that isn't bent but something worn/broken in the connections?  

as i suggest, fix what you know is wrong, the bent bars, and go from there.