Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Gear change pedal-installing replacement

Dropped the bike in the garage. Only damage appears to be to the gear change pedal. Is bent inward. Ordered a new one; coming through the mail. Any words of caution concerning removing the bent pedal and installing the new one? Is this a pretty easy procedure?

Very easy replacement. Remove the footpeg and bracket and there you are.
I'm in the area if you need help.

I dropped mine around a month ago - I didn't put the stand out far enough and it retracted (the truth is I was distracted by the girls on the sidewalk ).
My gear change was bent inwards too.
I bent it back to more or less its original position.
Any reason why you didn't do the same? (I mean does it weaken or something?).

Did you remove the pedal and then bend it back into shape? I didn't want to try bending it while it was installed for fear of risking bending something else (shaft, etc).

The replacement pedal is US$50 plus shipping, so I certainly thought about bending it back into shape.

The bike is driveable the way it is now, in fact have been driving it to work this week, but just have to kind of do a pidgeon toe maneuver to reach the pedal.

Gerry,

No, I bent it back there and then (easier said than done), my only worry was if it snapped as I was bending it, so I did it in increments.
Given how easily it bent out of shape I figured that there wasn't any danger of damaging anything else by bending it back.
If you look really closely, you can see it has been bent as it is not quite perfect, but that just adds ... character .

i bent mine back to (almost) straight as well. no ill effect.

Gerry, From owning many bikes over the years I was always under the impression that the shifter itself was made up of a metal that was a little less brittle than the rest. I believe that it is designed to (within reason) be bent back into shape. I have bent, hammered, several and never broke one yet. Knock on wood. Especially on the trail bikes. I have used a tree branch to bend them somewhat back into shape out in the middle of nowhere.

Jerry

Gerry,

If you want to bend it back, the best way is to remove it and put it in a vise with some wood scraps supporting it. Depending how it is bent, you may be able to position the wood to where you can use the force of the vise to bend it back, or secure it and slip a box wrench over the end of it to use as a lever and go a little at a time.

Or, you can leave it on the bike and use a crowbar or a brick to pry/hammer it back into shape.

I prefer a little finesse myself...

Thanks for the good advice and info one and all. The replacement part didn't arrive yet. I want to go on my first "long" ride this weekend, so it looks like tonight or tomorrow morning a bending I will do!


Gerry

Back in the day I would bend the shifter on my dirt bike often. The first time I just bent it back and it snapped off,I had to buy a new one (about 8 bucks at the time). After that I would take the shifter off,put it in a vise and throw some heat to it,then bend it back. This will make it ugly but you have a new one on the way and at least it won't snap before your long ride. I did this many times as those strip cut highwalls are hard on all the thingys that stick out on a bike. I kept all the levers,mirrows,etc. loose so they could move and not get bent too often. Hey, it worked for me.