Hand Lever Fix

The Tomaselli clutch lever had experienced a drop at some point and had a bend in the end near the ball (as seen in the photo below).  The brake lever drooped a little also and both needed some attention.  I did not want to buy new ones as I like the way the stock levers look (especially with the Tomaselli grips), so some straightening was required.

Following the obligatory YouTube video review, I grabbed the blow torch and bench vise and got going on the clutch lever.  You can skip the soap trick - all it does is confirm that slow heating for 4-5 min is key for aluminum to ensure it is soft enough to bend and not snap off.  And otherwise just gets black burnt crap all over your lever.  There is no magic temperature, just enough heat and time and care.  A long wrench for feel and leverage found the right application of pressure to slowly bring the ball end back into position.  Using the brake lever as a guide, I first drew an outline of the lever on a large piece of paper (photo below).  This way there was a template to match the shape to so I'd know when to stop.  Worked great and returned to shape just as I'd hoped.  Just a little polishing later and the levers are beautiful and functional once again.

I'd also had to pull out the blowtorch one other time, since the side stand was tucking under the exhaust header too far, making it very difficult to deploy.  I discovered that the open end which clamps the frame had spread open.  Clamping this end in the vise followed by repeated heating and clamping closed the gap back to vertical.  Now when the sidestand is installed, it rests on the lower frame rail tang perfectly, and does not rub against the header.