Hopped off a high curb, steering now f#cked

This morning I hopped off a high curb, which was very ill-advised as I had a bar bag with probably 5-10kg in it. As soon as I landed the steering felt funny. Bike swaying from left to right, difficult to keep a straight line. Trying the steering when stopped, it's very stiff when turning to the left and normal turning to the right. With the bars all the way over to the right I can feel a bit of play in the headset (rocking back and forward with the brakes on), otherwise there's no play. My bike is an old gaspipe steel thing, pic shows set up.

What have I done???

Remove headset, stem, bars. Inspect frame for damage.

As in headtube flaring?

You've 'fucked it', that's what you've done.

Happy to help.

look at the topcap of the headset; thr rubber thingy has come lose.

get stem out, check stem, get headset loose and check bearings/races while you at it, reinstall/retinker headset

but yeah what hippy says

At the moment it's 50/50

You may have bent the frame. Check around the headtube lugs for creases and ripples in the paint.
You may have bent the fork at the crown/steerer tube and broken the lower bearing cage.

You may get lucky, i did similar and bike would not ride in a straight line. After the race and stripping off the front end, inspecting everything and rebuilding the bike was fine. it was decided that the heavy landing had twisted/moved the stem/steerer interface and pulling it apart allowed things to ping back to place, nothing was bent and bike is still going.

Yeah I got the I've fucked it feeling as I launched off.

Thanks for the advice (especially Hippy) will report back with findings.

Hopped off a high curb

There are bikes built for this. Yours aint one of those.

Bent steerer tube.

Take the fork out and put a straight edge, such as a ruler, down the length of it. You will be able to see quite clearly what's happened if that's it.

You might be able to bend it back

That stem looks like it is at an angle (bent forwards towards the front wheel), so more than likely bent the steerer tube. You could be lucky and it could be the stem bolt has bent leaving a strange contact with the stem wedge but unlikely...

The top bearing races look outta kilter, as if they're lose.

Took the fork out...

Fucked it dinni. Well done to everyone who guessed bent steerer tube! You win a sock.

More prizes for the best suggestion how to bend it back using household items

Easy.....heat up over gas flame till cherry red, then apply cold wet rag to the mid point in the direction you want it to bend back. If that makes sense, a trick I learnt for bending girders when I used to be a contractor.
I've used this method once on a set of forks, works a treat.

Edit: dab the rag on until you suss how much time it needs to be in place for desired bending effect.

Edit edit: just so you know I'm not pulling your chain....

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/steel/02.cfm

Not going to cook the forks on the hob, although it is a funny image.

Will just buy some new ones. Anyone got a suitable pair?

2nd hands forks much easier than getting them to cherry red unless you've got an oxy/act setup.
What length steerer and how much thread do u need? also do u know crown race size? I've got a pair of Raleigh 531 u can have cheapo if they fit.
PM me.

Thanks for your kind offer. Need a tiny bit less than 20mm thread and 165mm steerer. The crown race is 27mm inside dia. You're a star.

Cooking random things on the hob you say...

lol, if only I were having that much fun.

If I took the forks to my LBS (Brixton Cycles) what's the odds they could set em right?

I'd just bin/skip dip some similar size.

LBS could do it with a big vice and length of scaffold pole and tease it back straight, if the LBS are used to that sort of thing.

Ghetto fix would be jam it into one of your neighbours car wheels and gently bounce on the fork (stand on it) and tease it straight that way. Works best if the neighbour is a cock with a flash motor :)

Haha, I'll give it a try tomorrow and report back.

Not suggesting this is the best approach, but I successfully straightened some forks with this issue by holding them against some stairs with the bent area in the gaps between steps and hammering the steerer straight. I took it easy to avoid denting the steerer and it worked fine.

Iirc it only took 10 mins from start to finish and yes on a hon lol.

Clamp it where the bend starts, put your stem in to keep it from folding in and keep it straight and give it a wack with a mallet.

Or clamp it in a vice and straighten it with the pressure.

I like the heating up method though, sounds like a skilled fix by those in the know.