The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2

Technical Discussion => BMW Technical Q&A, Primarily R65 => Topic started by: BooG on June 18, 2016, 03:18:23 PM

Title: Crash bar
Post by: BooG on June 18, 2016, 03:18:23 PM

I want to straighten a crash bar on the R65. It is chromed, and only has a slight bend out of true. Can I heat to up with my blow torch and bend it back? Will it ruin the chrome?

Title: Re: Crash bar
Post by: Tony Smith on June 18, 2016, 06:13:52 PM

Quote

I want to straighten a crash bar on the R65. It is chromed, and only has a slight bend out of true. Can I heat to up with my blow torch and bend it back? Will it ruin the chrome?

At the very least you will "blue' the chrome, but in all liklihood you will ruin it.

Flat black is the correct colour for crash bars anyway :-)

Title: Re: Crash bar
Post by: Barry on June 19, 2016, 03:12:18 AM

I've done it with handle bars.

I tried to bend them cold and the steel just sprang back. Steel starts to weaken a long way before red heat and I took advantage of this to bend handle bars at bluing temperatures of  300-400 Deg C.  It worked and you could feel the metal bend because the spring had gone out of it. Most of the bluing polished out but I wouldn't say the finish was perfect. It didn't matter in my case as that part of the handle bar wasn't visible.  

Might be worth a try using a minimum of heat to see if they will move.