Hi Beth, sorry I had missed this one before. if you drill a small hole somewhere inconspicuis you can quite easilly see cast iron/steel from the shavings/or lack thereof steel gives shavings ans iron gives fine filings . Ian

I thought they looked like drop forgings too and was glad to read about the telltales described by the experts.

I would also think they were foot rests that were bent when the bike was dropped at some time, can you see any scuff marks on the ends where they scraped along the tarmac?

I was told many years ago that if it bent cold it is best usually to straighten cold. The rational I came up with for this being that the maximum movement will be at the same place relative to the cross sectional area of the piece. If you use heat you may get the thicker part to unbend too much if you see what I mean!

Try and envisage where the forces were exerted to bend and twist it out of shape and then reverse them. I would be inclined to fit them back on the bike frame securely and slide a bit of tube over the foot rest; right to the corner to untwist the main arm and halfway out to straighten the rest bar itself. The tube should be a reasonable fit and have an internal chamfer or radius so that it does not bruise the workpiece.

Definitely +1 on informing the client that there is a risk of damage involved before you start.

" I would be inclined to fit them back on the bike frame securely and slide a bit of tube over the foot rest; right to the corner to untwist the main arm and halfway out to straighten the rest bar itself."

Blackersmith, I would guess this is exactly what Murphy(as in Murphy's law) would have you do--- And then one gets the very memorable opportunity to bend the shaft at the point of entry into the crankcase!!!! B) while the" bent arm" remains bent. B)

Please don't take umbrage at my comment just ask me WHY I SHOULD THINK THAT WOULD HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Ian

thank you all, i heated them in the fire, stuck the pedal part in the vise and put a bar through the opposite end being careful not to damage the splines, and persuaded them back into alignment, which they did very happily, and my friend now has them ready to go back on. thanks for the tips guys - i will know in future - its a shame to ruin something without need...:)

Blackersmith, I would guess this is exactly what Murphy(as in Murphy's law) would have you do--- And then one gets the very memorable opportunity to bend the shaft at the point of entry into the crankcase!!!! B) while the" bent arm" remains bent. B) Please don't take umbrage at my comment just ask me WHY I SHOULD THINK THAT WOULD HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!! :D Ian

Ahah! Been there, bent and b****red it have you! I would have to guess that you did not follow my advise and manage to reverse the forces exactly but got too close to the shaft. Other wise the shaft should have also been bent when the damage was done first time around....what you needed to do was fit a reverse gear to the bike and then approach the bit of gravel on the peak of the corner at the same speed backwards and get off at the same point! :)

I must admit my main concern was for the splines.

@Beth I am glad you were successful anyway!

@blackersmith that sage advice comes about 38 years late B) luckilly it helped build up a rapid learning curve.

But just to clarify "does it help if you get the girl you were gawking at to retrace her steps?"However Getting her to wipe the silly grin off her face would seem impossible!
Ian

@blackersmith that sage advice comes about 38 years late B) luckilly it helped build up a rapid learning curve.

But just to clarify "does it help if you get the girl you were gawking at to retrace her steps?"However Getting her to wipe the silly grin off her face would seem impossible!
Ian

Yes it would help, yes it would be impossible.

I am afraid my sage advice has never pertained in my dealings with the fair sex....this thread being a case in point!

I did however figure out how to add a reverse gear to the bike if your interested....get a worn chain and twist it into figure of eight like the old flat belts they used to drive the the threshing tackle with traction engines....I'll get my hat.

quality ! :)

Blacker, Unfortunately that often does not hold true without at least normalizing the piece to remove work hardening and due to work hardening it may not be the place that bent which bends---take a piece of wire and start bending it back and forth. If you don't constrain it the location of the bend will creep as the section that previously bent gets work hardened.

When I work with 1/8" steel wire bent into a frame for election signs if I try to straighten the corners cold they will break. If I straighten them hot or after I have normalized them they bend easily.

Okay you two I know its a conspiracy...


@ThomasPowers, yes but, no but...I originally wrote out the age and work hardening factors to qualify my statement, but edited them out because I thought it was verbose enough...how wrong I was! :)

I would agree regarding the bend creep on successive bends and would also agree with you if the piece had been bent to a tight radius relative to its cross sectional area. I did not think either of these conditions were in evidence. It appeared to me to be only a minor clonk which could be straightened with a minor clonk in the opposite direction!

@ianinsa, while I am under attack from all comers I will pick you up on your earlier statement "And then one gets the very memorable opportunity to bend the shaft at the point of entry into the crankcase!!!!" I thought that these foot rests were attached to brackets on the steel frame of the bike rather than a spindle through the alloy casing. But 1) I only had a 1930 BSA 250 and an Ariel leader and 2) I might have been thinking of the 'rear-sets and clip-ons' my mates put on their Beezer bikes for that racing look.

Having written this out twice, and having lost it all once, I reckon I have spent longer explaining and justyfing it all than Beth took to do the job, I am off to work!

Well Played! Over explaining is usually better for the new folks quietly lurking and for us crabby old nitpicking old farts who remember something going wrong on a pre-war piece (War of 1812) we tried to fix back when passenger pigeons were a problem!

Ah yes! Well I remember rejoicing when I qualified to join the Pedantic Young Farts' Association on leaving college 40 years ago....well 38 years 9 months 3 days and 2 hours ago from....now! I hasten to add in order to maintain eligibility of membership to the Pedantic Old Fart's Association to which I have now graduated!

The young are sure of their knowledge. The old know that there are exceptions to the exceptions to the exceptions to the rules!

The young are sure of their knowledge. The old know that there are exceptions to the exceptions to the exceptions to the rules!

There may be some rare exeptions to this but generally it holds true!

There may be some rare exeptions to this but generally it holds true!

except when...

Usually , when the risk of potentially spilling a good single malt, outweighs the potential dammage to the aforeunmentioned iten :D :D

I really look forward to making your aquaintance in the flesh the sence of humor= scewed yeah!

Regards Ian

ah yes, the scent of humour!

...or as we malt drinkers say the sense of aroma

the movies makers say the sensorama

I wonder how many more there are?