As per the title... the brake pedal on the Raptor was bent out of shape when I took the low speed tumble a week or so back. So what's the best way of getting him back to shape, heat, hammer or heat & hammer?
hard to generalise but have straightened many Ducati and Cagiva (but pre-Raptor) and never needed to resort to heat as have been acceptably ductile if bent slowly. If it's a lovely gentle, "flowing deformation" then best chance of straightening without trauma - that looks to be the case here?. Can't see exactly what you need to do but i wouldn't hammer unless hide/plastic or with a block of wood etc for a drift.
Heat, no hammer. Heat it up while in a vice and pull it back into shape. If you can fit a big ring spanner over the toe part that will give you a nice lever arm.
Similar to above regards heat, but I would sandwich it in between two bits of scrap wood (or a pair of soft jaws if you have them) and use the vice to gently bring it back
On a soft surface with a rubber mallet, whack it…just gently! Honestly, did one for an R1 that had been dropped. Took a couple of goes. No issues. To add, I would replace a front brake lever! Though they tend to break..
I would not do this after a mate snapped a straightened lever on a Suzi GS850, he crashed badly 2 up at quite a speed.
Rub some soap from a bar of soap on it and heat with a flame until the soap turns brown. That's the right temperature to anneal aluminium. Let it cool until you can touch it and bend back into shape.
Mark the piece with a sharpie pen and heat until the markings disappear is perhaps easier these days The aluminium is at this point annealed and will take a reasonable bend/realignment without cracking. The full strength (temper) of the aluminium will return within 48 hours.
Thanks for all the responses guys and the annealing & bending method does strike as the best way & I have a big 30mm ring spanner that will help. I think it better than trying with cold impact(s).... even though it was bent into it's present shape in the same way when it hit the ground. I'm not entirely sure it is solid either and is in fact made up from two halves... see below:
