| Author | Message | ||
     Jonzin |
I dropped my bike and bent the handlebars about a month after I bought the bike. The left handlebar almost touches the airbox at full lock. Any suggestions on the best way to straighten them? I have a new pair of traction grips that I am waiting to put on until I fix/replace the handlebars. Thanks in advance for your help. | ||
| Superfly |
I'd replace them, sorry i know that's not much help, but bent bars are a safety issue, so you might as well replace them. | ||
| Court |
Do NOT straighten. Replace. | ||
| Glitch |
I've never heard of straightening bars working out. Usually you end up just bending them somewhere else rather than getting them straight. Bars are pretty cheap anyhow. | ||
| Luxor |
$25.00 to $65.00 at your local dirtbike shop will get you a nice set of NEW bars. Renthal has a nice selection. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
"Do NOT straighten. Replace." This quote is from a wise man. Please take his advice. | ||
| Jonzin |
Advice taken. Thank you. As soon as I get the bike back from the dealership (waiting for a O2 sensor) I'll put on a new pair. | ||
| Growl |
I used a 2x4... | ||
| Cycleaddict |
take your grips off , get a 3-4' section of galvanised plumbing pine (with the I.D. of pipe = 7/8-3/4"  get TWO of your most "manly" buddies (to help hold/ wrastle your bent bars to a semi-original condition ) if your happy with how they turned out - - ride it ! if not replace with new bars . | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Tossing them in the trash can and replacing them works perfectly every time. Straightening them shouldn't even be a consideration. | ||
| Cycleaddict |
i can see right now the "replacers" have not ridden dirt bikes , 'cause bent handlebars are pretty common ! "nothing ventured ...nothing gained. (Message edited by bigdaddy on April 28, 2008) (Message edited by cycleaddict on April 28, 2008) | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Cycleaddict, No one did anything to your post. You put the "WINKY" in your own post. I have, just now in fact, edited your second post to remove the vulgarity. A simple and polite interrogative could've cleared it up for you. | ||
| Cycleaddict |
now thats FUNNY !!!! (Message edited by cycleaddict on April 28, 2008) | ||
| Bigdaddy |
"BIG daddy i DID NOT add that winky thing to my post !!!!" Yes, yes you did. "so I'M ASKING how did that FAGGOT winky thing get added to my 1st post ?" That ship done sailed. "speak -up !!" spoke up | ||
| Semirgdj |
Hold the front tire in place then use a larger diameter pipe and slip over your bars and bend your bars back. That's what we do at the track anyway. | ||
| Court |
Never straighten tube steel. Even though not visible to the naked eye, it's broken. That's how malleable metal changes shape. The best example I personally have is when a pair of fork legs were "slightly bent" in an mild collision. They were brought to Topeka HD/Buell and the owner had advise from an "expert" assuring him they could be straightened. So, he had the expert straighten them. Fortunately Bruce Zimmerman took a close look and a bright light and mirror revealed a significant crack on the inside that was not visible on the outer surface. My personal experience was the much fabled incident where I tumbled the secret media S-1 end over end while showing off in front of a bus load of Japanese tourists on Katella. Since the bike had not been released and since I was to meet all the magazine guys to go for a ride and photo shoot in an hour, we pulled the bike behind the Anaheim convention center, jammed the bars next to the concrete filled truck bollards and bent them kinda back into shape, ran inside and stole the turn signals off a display bike. Now you know why the early "first photos" of the S-1 had me standing in front of the bike holding my hand over where the headlights . . . . ..er, "would have been". Also the day I learned you can bend an "unbendable" cast wheel. DO NOT STRAIGHTEN HANDLEBARS | ||
| Damnut |
i can see right now the "replacers" have not ridden dirt bikes  I've straightened out plenty of bars with no ill effects. | ||
| Slaughter |
Cycleaddict. Anytime you use a quotation followed by closed parenthesis, it returns a winky thing. It is a "feature" of this board and a pain. Preview your text before you post and you won't have to launch a rant next time. Try it. Here's what you do: Step 1 type a " Step 2 type a ) Step 3 preview what you see is " Don't be paranoid. You're not a victim of anything. | ||
| Glitch |
Wow, why must a conversation about the how, why or why not something should be done become so vile. If you want, try to straighten them. If you're one to take the safest route, replace them. Simple, no need for name calling. You'd think this was a conversation about politics or something. Sheesh! Cycleaddict, please refrain from such abusive language. It's uncalled for, rude, and not allowed. That kind of talk will get you nowhere fast, and if continued will be more trouble than it's worth. The "wink" may very well have been a typo you made. If you type a semicolon ; followed by a closing parentheses ) with no space between, you'll get . Greg would not edit a post to add anything like that. Greg would only get involved when someone gets out of line, as you did with the fowl language. Now with regards to straightening. Any one of us could be wrong I suppose. It would have a lot to do with the degree in which the bars are bent. I was only going by how badly mine got bent the last time such a thing happened to me. Which with the given information I gave the safest advise. | ||
| Ccryder |
Come on just let him be paranoid. With an attitude like his, he just might have a reason....  Did I say that????? Later, all. | ||
| Court |
•••• it . . go ahead and straighten them. I've straightened many on my KTM but I was a hell of a lot less concerned about getting tossed off a KTM dirt bike while putting in the woods that I might have been a Buell on a public highway at triple digit speeds. And folks here are correct . . . there will likely be no visible damage and, quite frankly, you'll never likely have one bit of problem. No big deal. Let me guess . . . . the same folks who call the XB headlights a life safety issue are now bending handlebars.  That is a REAL smiley . . . if it were me, I'd replace but sift through the info and decide for yourself. It really won;t bother anyone what you choose to do . . . we still like you. | ||
| Damnut |
Let me guess . . . . the same folks who call the XB headlights a life safety issue are now bending handlebars. That's right. You don't think the headlights are a safety issue?? Oh I forgot, I'm suppose to be a good Buell owner and keep my mouth shut while I wait over a year for a solution. Still waiting......... You may not believe this but I am a big Buell fan, I do not like the way the headlight issue is being handled. Nevermind telling lies to Buell owners who call the factory for information about their XBR headlights. I stated that I have bent back plenty of handlebars with no ill effects but that is on dirtbikes. I don't know but I think that dirtbike handlebars would have a lot more stress on them than streetbike bars. I just offered an opinion, it's not like I didn't spend many years racing dirtbikes or nothing. | ||
| Dongalonga |
http://www.ridenow.com/product/detail/bikemasterba rs.aspx I used the superbike bend and traction grips on my old XB9SL and loved them. I crashed with them and they held up amazingly well. I replaced them with a new set and never had a complaint. Not to mention dirt cheap. | ||
| Etennuly |
I would replace them on a bike that is used on the street with its on-coming traffic, big trucks, human hazards and such. I straightened many off road bike bars. I can think of three separate instances where I rode home with one side in my hand, no longer attached to the forks, balancing the bike while trying to clutch or throttle on a loose bar. I broke a set of bars off a Ski-doo 640 TNT at a ski resort that I worked at in the late seventies. I was heading down the main slope in front of the lodge after closing one Sunday. Lightly bouncing down the mougals, kinda showing off, heading straight for the lodge picture window, where the GM and one of the owners were sitting, the bars snapped off(been straightened) and landed in my lap. No steering, weak brakes, all down hill, it stopped just feet from hitting the wall in front of my bosses. | ||
| Cycleaddict |
sorry -all , but i had no idea that the "feature" of auto-added "items" could take place with-out my knowledge. the idea of someone adding to my post was beyond infuriating. please accept my apolodgy for my foul language. (it was meant for THE perpetrator....ME ) | ||
| Blake |
What apology? | ||
| Blake |
I thought I had fixed that " issue. Guess not.  | ||
| Slaughter |
blake - some of the automatic "features" here are a pain in the butt. Try putting American Sport Bike in a title sometime Try putting a closed quote inside a parenthesis as I said above - you get this: " Sometimes these things are nice, sometimes they interfere. OK, rant off | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Blake, now you know why they keep trying to sell you condoms when you go into the chemists to ask for aspirins. " | ||
| Blake |
You mean try putting ASB inside a title? ![: ]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif) I have no clue why the " is doing what it is. I cannnot find the code that is causing it. I do know about the ASB ==> American Sport Bike one though and can remove that if desired. (Message edited by blake on April 28, 2008) | ||
| Slaughter |
Hey - I just didn't have anything else to complain about today. The American Sport Bike thing in titles did create some problems when you'd try to click on the title and get redirected to Al's site. Not a bad thing in itself but you'd have to figure an end run around it to get into the thread. | ||
| Dogbone |
Take them off, replace with A) new stock bars or B) aftermarket bars of the street or dirt sort to your liking C) wedge bent bars into something stationary, bend back, use as spares if you need them.... | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Take bent bars off & replace with new, you ever hear of metal fatigue? catastrophic failure? For the price of new bars I wouldn't hesitate, but it's your call. |
