[CerialPhreak]

Hey guys, i dumped my bike a few months ago and i bent up the bracket that the back of the headlamp sits in/ mirrors are mounted to along with a handfull of other things. The left side where the mirror mounts is bent at a weird angle and it doesnt line up with the fairing anymore. Is it worth trying to bend it back or should i just drop the cash for a new one? Im worried that if i try and bend it ill just snap it off.

 

[Frog]

Well, if you try to bent it back, the worst that could happen to you would be that you'd have to buy a new one.. so in your situation, I'd try it..

But in order to avoid having to go through the process of fixing it again, I went down a different route : http://www.ex-500.com/index.php/topic,670.msg7039.html#msg7039

that is taking the whole assembly completely off.. It will not appeal to everyone, but to me, it works just fine

 

[CerialPhreak]

yeah, origionally i was going to do something similar, but my old man was gonna pay for the repairs and he wanted to go back to OEM so thats the plan now.

 

[Lucky#13]

If it's not gonna line up properly I wouldn't bother with it . It may put stress on you fairing , and I'm sure you know by now the damn things isn't cheap by no strech :-\

 

[Frog]

Then my vote is : try to bend it back, it might save your old man some cash, it might not..

If you cannot get it perfectly alligned, get a new one though

 

[MrSciTrek]

My used bike came on a salvage title w/ a bent fairing cage.

It doesn't take long to get off... keep note where wires are attached & where the shift cable runs through. On mine, all the bent regions (right side) had paint cracked or peeling. It was MUCH easier to take it off the bike then work it back into shape using a large vise w/ oak inserts. I used curved scrap wood or steel sockets to apply pressures at wierd angles to slowly get it back into shape.

If it's bent in 3 areas, say, work a little on 1, then 2, then 3.
Then a litle more on 1, 2, 3... etc. It's easier on the whole cage.
If parts of it need little welds for repair maybe the local community college or high school shop can help you.

 

[fog]

I always fixed the one on my race bike right on the bike. Get a torch and heat the bent aresa red hot and bend them straight you can even weld broken parts there . That way everything will always line up.

FOG

 

[Ninjastorm66]

I bought my bike for a fair amount lower than market price for a 2002. I thought it just had a vew cracks in the fairing. Nope. When I took the fairing off to repair it, I saw that the mirror arm of the headlight bracket was bent. I called up my friend with a jewelry torch, and he came over, and we heated it and bent it perfectly back into place with a wrench and a ball hammer.

If you go this route though, grind away as much paint as possible. We did, and the paint near the heat still burned, and it STINKS. I still have to go out and buy a small spray can of paint to paint over where we bent the bracket so it doesn't rust.

I'd say it's at least worth a shot to try to fix it yourself if you or someone you know has a torch.

 

[spider_kyle]

My fairing mount frame was bent in about half a dozen different places. I also went at it with a torch, it's the wise first option. Granted I didn't have to lign up mirror mounts and holes cuz I was changing the fairing and drilled new ones, but either way I think it's worth a shot. It's not hard to do, and like someone else said, if it doesn't work in the end you can just buy a new one anyway.

 

[CerialPhreak]

I got it all set right, when i told my dad what i was gonna do he just went at it with vicegrips, by the time i was done hassling him about using a torch he was done bending it back. Atleast its fixed.

 

[Frog]

Good job