I see lots of posts about tie rods. I too bent mine hitting a small dirt clod at a pretty low speed. I had a machine shop make me some out of 1/2" 316 Stainless Steel round stock. Yesterday, I was approaching a hill and all of a sudden the handlebars jerked out of my hands and I came to a dead stop from about ten miles per hour. I got off the bike to see what happened. I hit a big rock that looked like dirt.

Anyway, nothing bent and I went on about my business. This was a much more severe collision than the one that bent my stock tie rods.

I was very concerned about upgrading for the same reasons that many of you are (breaking something more expensive), but I decided that the stock tie rods are just too weak. Now that I have hit something, I am breathing a little easier.

 

I bought a section of 3/8" pipe from Lowe's, cut the threads off the ends and spot-welded it to the tie-rod. Holding up very well so far.

 

I bent mine 3 hours after buying my 700. I slid a peice of aircraft cromoly tubing over mine and welded it leaving the threads exposed. So far so good.

 

I have a question for you folks. That is: once those tie-rods are unbendable, what,then,will give in a collision? The steering stem, perhaps? Maybe a steering knuckle? I don't race, but I do ride hard. I spend considerable time in Hat/McCoy area. We run into a LOT of rocks. I think that I will only slightly reinforce mine, if at all. I carry a spare, strapped to the frame, just behind the LF shock.

 

I'm sure the pipe on mine will bend, it just won't look like an egg every time I hit a tree root. I've bent a 1/2' solid steel bar that goes inside the A-Arm on my Scrambler, so I'm pretty sure my setup will give if I hit hard enough.