Replacing my Motolights with Hella Micro DE fog lights meant I needed a light- bar. After some searching to see what was available for an ‘05 GS I decided on the Migsel bar. An order was placed and about 10 days later a package was delivered.
This doesn’t look good
It’s not supposed to bend that way
Nor that way, either
Uh-oh! This doesn’t look good. I opened the box to find that one end of the bar is bent pretty bad. The good part is that it looks like it can be bent back to it’s proper shape without leaving any marks or creases. I’ll know for sure, tomorrow.
Mounting posts
Left and right indicated
The mounting posts weren’t damaged. I connected them to the bike for a quick check just to make sure, then removed them to take these pictures. Once the light-bar is bent back to its proper shape I’ll mount everything properly.
Saturday, 2008-11-08
Removing the twist
Almost straight
After breakfast with the Saturday group Joe had a chance to straighten the light-bar. First, the press was used to get the bar close. Then Joe noticed a slight twist had been introduced and took care of it before addressing the smaller bends.
Bend removal tool
Gentle pressure
The final bends were removed using the fixture shown in the first image. He applied just enough pressure to move the bend slightly more than straight, knowing that the material will spring back some once the pressure is removed.
Good as new
This is the end result. The bar sits flat on the table and a compass shows the bends on both sides are equal. It’s now time to go home and mount the light-bar on the bike.
And for those who were wondering why I did this… why not? I did contact the folks at Migsel and they did offer to send me a replacement bar. But there was nothing really wrong with the bar I had that 20 minutes and Joe’s knowledge couldn’t fix. However, had it not turned out like it did I would have taken them up on their offer.
Left light-bar mount
Right light-bar mount
mount attach point
light-bar attached
It only takes 10-15 minutes to mount the light-bar. No plastic parts need be removed. The only caution is to watch out for the lock washers under the screws that hold the two parts of each mount together. They are small, black, and hard to find when they drop out of your hand.
The mounts can slide forward and back a bit. I tightened mine such that the bar was completely under the oil cooler, but not so far forward that the cooler would vibrate against the mounts when riding. Being on the paranoid side I also used some blue loctite on all four screws.
Now it’s time to mount the lights. [link]