Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: Handlebars Bent, 2000 suzuki sv650, clutch assembly

Question
Greetings, I recently had a lay down.  I wasn;t going that fast but the road was slick and I dropped my 2000 Suzuki SV650. Broke the clutch assembly off (went to the shop a couple hundred for the parts, no problem)  however the handlebars are slightly bent.  When I am attempting to turn left the end of the bar touches the gas tank.  A few friends of mine suggested used a bar and bending it back.  Since my one friend used to work pit crew at a racing track it was suggested this happens all the time. Have you had any experience with bent bars and what you done about them....How did you straighten them...?

Answer
You can either bend them back or replace them. The best would be to replace the stock bars; this is a good opportunity to upgrade. I'd switch to clip-ons.

I've always just used brute force to bend back bent handlebars, rather than spend the money on new ones. Unless they're severely bent, I don't see any safety issue with it.

Pat