I had to straighten out the rear brake pedal as I am starting to put together the bike.

The pedal was obviously bent from the bike falling over as the aftermarket fairing is also cracked.

I've straightened a number of aluminum parts on bikes over the years - once (pre E-bay and such) over a camp fire in Europe somewhere.

You will need a heat source, a means of holding the part (vise grips or pliers) a small wooden stick and a couple of downed branches from the woods to act as a hammer and anvil.

Don't be tempted to try and hold the part by one end as you heat the other - the whole part will get pretty toasty.
Remove any rubber or burnable accessories from the part.

Put a blunt point on the small stick - this will act as your temperature gauge.
Heat part in increments - brush the stick on the part after each successive heating.
At some stage the stick will leave a black, charred mark on the part. The part is at forging temperature - and will be for a while.
IF the black, charred mark goes on and quickly disappears, you're too hot. Allow the piece to cool a little. If the part disappears into a pool of molten aluminum - you're way too hot!

Take the branches and straighten the parts - allow the part to cool slowly.

Re-install and ride on...

Cheers, M

Good one Moto, Aluminium melts pretty quick too. If you get too hot it just disappears as you say, but it happens fast.

Another way i use to anneal alloy(if you have oxy/acetylene handy) is to light the acetylene and blacken the part first, then crack the oxy open to get a nice flame going. If you heat the part evenly until the black disappears then brush the stick on, the reason i do this is because once the black has gone your pretty close to the right temp. The stick is then more for fine tuning the heat.

Are parts that hard to find? Brake pedals are not that rare or that expensive.

In upstate Pakistan they can be very hard to find.

Another on the road way to gauge temperature of aluminium is to rub a bar of soap on it. When the soap goes black its about there. Soap is also a good temp fix for fuel leaks.

Peter

Haven't tried the soap thing Peter, must give it a go next time i'm doing alloy work.

Rjtrucker wrote:Are parts that hard to find? Brake pedals are not that rare or that expensive.

True,

But for the sake of a bit of heat and a well aimed blow - the one I have will work fine (and now does) - Bare in mind that I am a blacksmith by trade. Firemen squirt water, blacksmiths straighten bent objects - I think it's in the blood.

Touring is the big thing - when the bike is fully loaded and its balance upset a little. A parking lot roll over can push a clutch or brake lever around to the point where it becomes uncomfortable to use - and in the middle of Utah or Wyoming or other large state with a lot of land between bike shops...

But a point well taken - not expensive.

Cheers, M

Sometimes I will fix somthing just cause I can or I want to see if I can. I guess when it comes to aluminum I am not able to do much with it other then change the part. I have welded plastic and heated and bent other things but not aluminum. Also where I live I have access to a tone of spares both in my parts collection as well as a few friends into BMWs. I am sure the day will come when the K bike parts become hard to get as the bikes get older and die or get wrecked. At first the parts become common as the bikes come off the road then as time goes on they become scarse. I think we are coming to the turning point now since the last K100, K75 and K1100 made was 15 years. The dealers are not going to keep getting new spares and the used parts will dry up in time. Then we will have to move on to somthing liek the K1600. I myself will change brands long before that happens.

pjjms wrote:Another on the road way to gauge temperature of aluminium is to rub a bar of soap on it. When the soap goes black its about there. Soap is also a good temp fix for fuel leaks.

Peter

I have done this method quite a few times and it certainly works, It was a good method of doing alloy gaskets if you where stuck for one.

BIG D

If it is bent then it is stressed and needs to be normalised first.

Heat and plunge in water to normalise it then carry out the above proceedure ensuring to allow it to cool slowly.

Ajays.

Ajays wrote:If it is bent then it is stressed and needs to be normalised first.

Heat and plunge in water to normalise it then carry out the above proceedure ensuring to allow it to cool slowly.

Ajays.

Quite right Ajays

BIG D