Bent shift lever

Well yesterday my bike laid slowly down on its left side. After I was done weeping, I picked it up. Everything was ok except for the gear shift lever. It got bent in a-ways. It still works fine however when I shift it doesn't go very far across my toes. Kind of uncomfortable. So what can be done. Could I bend it back. If so how. Or is there some kind of accessory that can extend the rubber thing so it fits more across my foot.

I did the same thing early on. I used a couple of big box end wrenches for leverage, 25 or 27 MM so the box ends will fit over the shift lever, to bend it back into shape - one for pivot and one for bending.

That's exactly what I would try DanH.

I did the same thing to my brake pedal as well
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kevicon said:

I did the same thing to my brake pedal as well

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sigh...me too...

Oh, yeah and second time I twisted my shift lever, I was by the side of the road out in the middle of who knows where with no tools but what comes with the bike and the lever was bent over the linkage so I couldn't shift at all. I had to wrap the helmet cable around it, use the screwdriver as a handle, brace my feet against the bike and just haul on it. That was a rough weekend.

Hey Dan. The box end thing sounds like a plan. But I don't exactly understand where the "pivot" part goes. Any way you can illuminate?

Everybody needs Hondbikepro's fold-up shift lever.

Beemerphile said:

Everybody needs Hondbikepro's fold-up shift lever.

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And where can one get this?
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kevicon said:

And where can one get this?
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Try this thread...

http://nc700-forum.com/forum/nc700-mods/2303-folding-shift-lever.html

Mandalorian said:

Hey Dan. The box end thing sounds like a plan. But I don't exactly understand where the "pivot" part goes. Any way you can illuminate?

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Sure, you want your shift lever to bend in a particular spot so you use one wrench to hold where you want it to bend and the other to do the bending. Get a couple wrenches on the lever and play around a little bit. It will make more sense.

Well after looking at my bike again it looks like I did more than just bend the rear brake lever....the lever itself when riding seems very low and after stopping I realized that the brake lights not coming on unless you push really hard on the brake. It "looks" straight other than the tip but is it possible that I bent the whole lever itself down? Is that something I may be able to bend back or should I be looking to order a new lever, or could it be something completely different ?
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kevicon said:

Well after looking at my bike again it looks like I did more than just bend the rear brake lever....the lever itself when riding seems very low and after stopping I realized that the brake lights not coming on unless you push really hard on the brake. It "looks" straight other than the tip but is it possible that I bent the whole lever itself down? Is that something I may be able to bend back or should I be looking to order a new lever, or could it be something completely different ?

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That might be worth your time to get a mechanic to look at....Where in the US are you? anywhere near Lakewood, WA?

DanH said:

That might be worth your time to get a mechanic to look at....Where in the US are you? anywhere near Lakewood, WA?

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Nah I'm in east coast of Florida
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kevicon said:

Nah I'm in east coast of Florida
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That's pretty much about as not-near Lakewood WA as you can get....

Slip the round end of the wrench around the gearshift lever, take the round end of the second wrench and insert it into the open end of the first wrench and use it to bend the gearshift lever back to where you want it (you could use a piece of pipe over the first wrench, the second wrench is only used as leverage). This is hard to explain without a picture or in person. If you still don't understand the process, I can go to the garage and take a picture of the method.

Kevicon,
You may find that if you straighten the brake lever the height and brake light issues will be fixed also. The lever is mainly flat metal, so as you have seen, it is relatively easy to bend in a U shape and it can twist. There is always a risk that it will break when you try to straighten it, but in this case it's probably a relatively small risk. You may be able to straighten it on the bike with a large pair of vise grip pliers or a large adjustable wrench. If not you will need to take the lever off the bike. If you straighten it, make sure you take out any twist in the lever as well as the bend.

It may be that the reason you have to push harder on the pedal to activate the brake light is just that the bend is effectively making the pedal shorter and giving you less leverage when you apply the brake. The lower pedal height could be due to the way it is bent and will be fixed by straightening it out. If not, the pedal and light switch are adjustable and I believe the owners manual tells how to do it.

Bob

Kevicon, Mandalorian

This is how I would do it. Put the box ends of the two biggest wrenches you have over the brake/shift lever. As Spaceteach noted there is a chance you'll break it but its pretty slim. The metal used on these levers is pretty soft - designed to bend not break. When you apply force to wrench one, the lever is going to bend wherever there is a natural pivot, a strong point - the most likely case being where it is bolted on so you need the second wrench to tell the metal where to bend. Brace it against your hip or whatever so there is an opposing force at the point in the lever where you want it to bend. Then slowly apply force on wrench one in the direction you want it to bend. Watch the bend and adjust your position as necessary. Getting the twist out is pretty much the same process in different directions.

Thanks all, I sent the original thread. But my lever is nowhere near as bad as that brake lever. I now totally understand the box wrencn method. The picture is super helpful. Im a retired English teacher and your written explanation was just an A+. Thanks a million to all who helped. This forum is AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for being late to the party but wanted to say "Thanks" for the wrench tip. When I took my "acceptance ride" as the dealer called it, I complained about having difficulty in getting enough of my boot under the shift lever to do the necessary. They did tweak the up and down location and even swapped the lever with one from a new bike (bought mine used) that looked like the lever had more of an outward bend in it. I asked if they could bend the lever out & they said they would rather not (song & dance about "working" the metal & making the lever more prone to breaking). I have bent the brake lever out a bit for the same reason - to make sure I catch enough of it to not slip off) - with water pump pliers but had no success with the same technique on the shift lever as it is a stiffer/thicker material. Just went out to the garage & used one of my big wrenches on the shift lever. Worked like a charm.