Contractor Bent My Bars

[kpaul]

I park my bike inside a parking garage beneath my apartment complex. I had to cage it for a few days last week when my girlfriend noticed my bike had been moved and some bicycle racks had been installed along where my bike had been positioned. The bars were locked but I guess was that was no deterrent and they somehow shimmied it over the few feet they needed.

When I went down to check, I was surprised to find the left handlebar had been bent. The picture above was taken with the wheel as close to upright as I could make it. I have no idea how they could possibly have bent just one of the bars like that, but obviously now I'm worried they damaged other stuff.

I've filed a claim with my insurance provider as they are my legal representation, although it looks like the contractors are not going to give me any problems at this time. I'd actually taken last Friday off to take a big ride around the mountains here but instead I spent the morning dealing with the damage. Oh well, maybe I can convince the shop to swap in an FZ1 handlebar while they're in there, unless the insurance company disagrees.

 

[Sawblade]

Wow, I've drug my bike sideways by the bar before, and I've never seen it so much as flex a little.

 

[MHS]

Whoa that is a lot of bend!

 

[Wildcat_drvr]

I would CLOSELY check out the front end!! Make sure the triple trees and the fork tubes themselves aren't cracked, twisted of bent! The kind of pressure it took to bend those bars is a whole lot more than just picking the front end of the bike up to move it. Why do people have to be such JERKS, as that damage was done on purpose I think. Rich PS I'd check the front part of the frame also.

 

[Wolfman]

Nasty stuff! That is a pretty decent bend....i would be finding out who the contractor is, and having a few words at the very least!

 

[OneTrack]

FZ6 bars will bend quite easily, it doesn't take much.
That's why my bike's got new bars after trailering it once.
Do NOT use the bar-end Canyon Carvers as the main tie-down, they will bend your bars.

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

Do NOT use the bar-end Canyon Carvers as the main tie-down, they will bend your bars.

While this may be true for the stock FZ6 bars, I've trailered my bike to the Gap 3 times...once while I had the FZ1 bars and twice with the Suburban Machinery bars...all 3 times using the bar-end Canyon Carvers and never had a problem.

Of course, the SM bars are made of stainless steel and are much more substantial than the stock FZ6 bars, so it would take a LOT of pressure to bend them. I can see this happening with the stock bars, though, if you strapped them down too tightly. With the natural downward bend that's already in the stock bars, it probably wouldn't take much pressure to bend them downward.

 

[FinalImpact]

But how they do it w/out damaging anything else? Strange. . .

That's too bad kp

 

[kpaul]

Thanks all. I'm definitely having them give the whole bike a once-over to make sure nothing else on the front end was affected.

While I recall seeing that the bars can be bent with the tie-downs, I still have trouble understanding how one or two guys lifting it could have bent the bars. *shrug*

 

[Zipper]

FZ6 bars will bend quite easily, it doesn't take much.
That's why my bike's got new bars after trailering it once.
Do NOT use the bar-end Canyon Carvers as the main tie-down, they will bend your bars.

I've trailered mine (stock bars) 3 times using the bar-end Canyon Carvers and haven't bent anything as far as I can tell. The bars did rotate rearward slightly the first time I trailered it. I just loosened the center clamps and put them back in place then torqued the clamp bolts and haven't had any issues since. Thanks for the warning; I'll be especially careful in the future.

Zipper

 

[RJ2112]

I park my bike inside a parking garage beneath my apartment complex. I had to cage it for a few days last week when my girlfriend noticed my bike had been moved and some bicycle racks had been installed along where my bike had been positioned. The bars were locked but I guess was that was no deterrent and they somehow shimmied it over the few feet they needed.

When I went down to check, I was surprised to find the left handlebar had been bent. The picture above was taken with the wheel as close to upright as I could make it. I have no idea how they could possibly have bent just one of the bars like that, but obviously now I'm worried they damaged other stuff.

I've filed a claim with my insurance provider as they are my legal representation, although it looks like the contractors are not going to give me any problems at this time. I'd actually taken last Friday off to take a big ride around the mountains here but instead I spent the morning dealing with the damage. Oh well, maybe I can convince the shop to swap in an FZ1 handlebar while they're in there, unless the insurance company disagrees.

Look at the bottom of the bar end weight, and see if it's marked up. My bet is they knocked the bike over onto something so the bar is the only thing that hit. Like their company vehicle's bumper or something.

You'd have to whack that bar pretty hard to bend it out of true that much, and the force would have to come from the bottom. I'd think you would have to use a sledge hammer to do it manually.......

 

[CoolATIGuy]

I'd think you would have to use a sledge hammer to do it manually.......

Did anyone else shudder at the thought of a sledge hammer to your fazer?

 

[RustyBasterd]

What a trailer? :BLAA:

 

[keef]

Wow... Amazing how easily your bar bent. FZ1 bar would be a great swap!