Straighten Bent Half Bars

[Scud]

I've been having a hard time finding new bars for the clip-ons, but I had a set of bent, stock bars. So I decided to try to straighten them out. I heated them in the oven, then worked them in a large vise with some metal brackets positioned so I could apply pressure to the most noticeably bent section.

 

Here are some before, during, and after pictures.

 

I'd still be happy to buy a pair of used or reproduction half-bars, but at least I got to remove the PO's home-made bar riser setup.

 

The end result is not perfectly straight; they still have a little wobble when rolled on a flat surface. However, they are straight enough to use until I can find a different set - and I can use the stock bar-end weights.

 

Here's the before pic:

 

 

Here's how I clamped the warm bars in a vise

 

 

And here's the end result.

 

[Walterg]

Good job !

I'll remember the use of the oven instead of heating them with a flame.

[czakky]

When I straightened my bent bar I ended up with a gashed up poc marked slightly less bent piece....one day I'll learn some patience

[LowRyter]

wow.  Don't those bars have solid metal stock in them ?

[Craig]

There is an Industrial Metal Supply in San Diego that can probably get you tube stock that you could fabricate brand new pieces with.

[Scud]

The bars are solid from the inboard end to a little bit past where they exit the bar-clamp. They are hollow (but thick walled) from that point on - to the threaded ends that accept the stock bar-end weights. Even heated, I needed a lot of force to straighten them. I used a floor-jack handle over the bench-vise handle for extra leverage. Had to push them a little past straight to get them to release straight (that's why I put the angle brackets in the vise).

 

I thought about going to a machine shop - maybe have a few sets made up at one time. Fabrication of something like these is outside my current skills (and I don't have any machine tools). Maybe it's a low demand item, but it seems there could be a little business opportunity for someone to make these. I mentioned it to a guy at Harper's Moto Guzzi today when I ordered the billet shift lever that they manufacture.

[docc]

Here in Lower Middle Mule Town there is a scale of difficulty for jobs like "cold pressing" (*bending*) delicate Italian parts of unknown metallurgy:

 

1) Vice and a beer.

 

2) Vice, beer(s), hammer(s)

 

3) Vice, heat, hammers, friends, beers.

 

4) Vice, heat, hammers, moonshine, friends, beers, moonshine, cheaterbars, >step5:

 

5) Next morning: order new parts;

 

Empirical evidence prevails!