Bending back front brake lever
 

My recently aquired hawk had (From what I'm guessing) an "Oh shit!" moment with the PO and tipped over in the garage on its right side. It slightly scratched the muffler, a little bit on the engine case (Not even to bare metal), a wee bit on the fairing, and bent up the brake lever.I'm assuming it is made out of aluminum and was wondering if anyone has had luck with bending them back? I know aluminum has a tendency to crack/break if you try to bend it back, but was wondering if I annealed it with my oxy/acel torch if I could safely bring it back to shape? I'm leaning towards just getting a replacement, because I really don't want to chance it with something that you constantly rely on, but was just wondering if anyone has had luck with stuff like this in the past. Thanks in advance! :-D

Yeah, that would suck to have to grab a big handful one day and have the lever just snap right off. Better to play it safe and get a new one. They're not expensive.

Greg's right, a new lever would be recommended but until you get a new part you can just slip the closed end of large box-end wrench over the lever and bend it back into shape. No annealing necessary, the levers are quite pliable as they are. Go for a set of CRG or Pazzo levers!

I would agree with the previous posts... However, as a temporary fix, I've done the following...

Place the lever in a vise using three blocks of soft wood (i.e. pine). Position one block directly on the high point of the bend. place the other two on the back side of the lever and spaced so that the front block is between them. Now slowly squeeze the lever in the vice until it is straight. You may have to reposition the lever to get it straight on all axis'.

I've bent a few back before and they never break off in normal use. I mean, come on, how many ft/lbs does one use on the lever in braking, even extreme braking.

Boil a pot of water, stick lever in for a long time, quickly pull it out, and tap (nothing hard) it back to shape with a hammer. Going slowly, this may take several cycles. Use steel wool to shine it back up.

Having said all this, cheap aftermarkets are plentiful on ebay and the like. Just get one of those for $15 and keep the old one as a spare during trips.