Kick stand bracket, has this ever happened to you?

This happened to me twice. About 15 years ago, and this wasn't my fault, I was going slowly through a parking lot and came up to a speed bump where the asphalt on the other side was broken up and didn't give it a thought. When I went over the speed bump, there was a sudden and heavy clunk. I go to park the bike but the kick stand pushed the bike up so high that it wouldn't have taken much to push it over on its right side. My lower crossmember got twisted. I didn't know how to get it fixed and it took me 2 years to find someone who could fix it at a reasonable price. It took him 3 months but it got fixed. During that 2 years, I had to loosen the kick stand bracket bolts so I could park it in the garage but it wasn't rideable like that. I have an '87 Ninja 1000 also so that kept me on 2 wheels.

About a year and half ago, and this was my fault, I was exiting an empty parking lot at a slow speed. I passed 3 exits and was aiming for the 4th. I was looking over my left shoulder looking for oncoming traffic when I came to a screeching halt when I ran over a curb that I didn't notice. The sun was in my eyes. None of the 3 previous exits had a curb sticking out perpendicular to the street but the 4th one did. Man was that embarrassing. My lower crossmember got twisted again but not as bad as the 1st time and my bike was still rideable. My kickstand was up against the exhaust pipe when up and I couldn't use my jack adapter.

Last March I decided to strip my bike down to the bare frame and get the frame fixed. I found a place not too far away that specialized in motorcycle frame repair but the website said it would be a $500 minimum. Not sure what the lead time would have been. I then found a local guy who did fabrication and welding but he told me it would be at least that price and he couldn't get to it for at least 2 or 3 months.

So I decided to learn a new skill. I bought a portable acetylene torch (it was on clearance at Home Depot for half price) but wasn't sure if the small tanks would last long enough to keep the crossmember heated up until I got it twisted back to shape. A friend suggested that I try twisting it cold. I didn't think it would work. So one day I was in Harbor freight and came across a 36" pipe wrench for $22 and I'm thinking to myself 'why not give it a try'. I got a steel bar at Home Depot that was 2" wide and 3/8" thick. I cut 4 pieces to size to cover the kickstand bracket mounting holes. I drilled holes in 2 of the plates to mount them to the crossmember using the bracket bolts. I then mounted the other 2 plated to the front and rear using a couple of C-clamps. I clamped the pipe wrench onto the front and rear plates and started pushing down. It wasn't easy but was able to push the crossmember down little by little. It took me a couple of hours just doing a little bit at a time. For the last couple of degrees, I had to put 3 ft pipe over the end of the pipe wrench to get more leverage. I can't believe this worked and there is hardly any noticeable deformation in the crossmember. Back up and running. Yee haa.