[jayc]

A little off-topic, but I bought a pipe guard for my CR125 to help withstand the New England granite that I so often like to hit. My GasGas 125 has a carbon-fiber guard, and the last time I had a tipover into a rock, the rock punched through the guard like so much tissue paper. I decided that a metal guard was the way to go, and I choose a Moose "Pipe Armor" guard.

It's really beefy - made from aluminum 1/8" stock (which is only 1/32" thinner than the Moose skid plate I got for the same bike), which leads to my problem. I CAN'T BEND THE THING!! The guard is pre-bent cylindrically, which makes it even stiffer longitudally - but the thing has to be bent into a compound 'U' to go around the pipe. I beat it with a hammer a few times with absolutely no effect.

HOW DOES ONE MOUNT THESE THINGS???

One guy I contacted said that he uses the pipe itself as a mandrel, and forms the guard directly over the pipe with hose clamps and a BIG mallet. My CR, however, has the OEM pipe - painted with seams - I'd have to think that forming the guard would destroy the pipe cosmetics, although I think trying to force-form this particular guard would simply collapse the thing. Any suggestions?

JayC