Often, it is not even necessary to loosen the bolts on the triple clamps or fenders to realign the tubes. Merely squeezing the front tire between your knees and giving the handlebars a forceful twist works easily on all but the best large-diameter forks. If you're shocked at how easy it is to tweak the alignment, you'll also appreciate how common misalignment can be. Completely loosen and then retighten all the fender bolts once the tubes are aligned to keep a torqued fender from re-tweaking the new alignment. With the forks aligned as carefully as you can with this technique, turn your attention to the front axle.
Most axles thread into one side and are clamped on the opposite side.
If you have a vernier caliper, measure the distance the end of the axle protrudes from the fork leg. Now, loosen the axle clamp bolts until they exert no pressure. Next, forcefully compress the forks several times with the front wheel against a solid stop. If the forks were pinched or spread, this technique will allow them to find the position that gives the least misalignment. The forks had been pinched.