Craig, We made up some simple jigs in alloy that the blade slides into at the middle where the center spindle passes through........this supports the blade so it doesn't fall to one side. The blade would be held up the other way from your picture above and is supported where the pad bolt nut is in position number one in your picture, then using an alloy block with a tunnel shape machined on one side, you press against the blade in the area immediately where the bend is, so about where the small 1/4 hole is for the headlight attachment bracket, from there aft about 25 mm or so........If the blade has only a small bend you can press it cold, the "spring back" is quite a lot.......A bend that is substantial will need the area heated to around 200 degrees to allow the alloy to move that bit easier.......A twist in the fork blade takes more jigs, again quite simple but need to be strong, and you need a large powerful/heavy press to hold the blade in the middle, whilst you twist the bent area, and someone standing back can watch how far you need to go, and another person holding the heating torch as you go.........It sounds easy, but if the blade is bent quite a bit, they do take some effort to get straight, and several goes as necessary. The holes should all line up, however remember that the spindle holes are 9/16" diameter and the axle hole is 1/2".......So if a straight edge is used with 2 spindles in place, the straight edge will overhang the axle hole by 1/32 of an inch.......a bit under 1 mm or so either side. If they are out by a small amount do not bother trying to fix them........if it is say 2 mm or more, then yes they should be looked at. It is common for one blade of a pair to be bent only, and this seems to be affected by which side of the road the bike is ridden on........ I straightened one the other day off a Comet that came from Europe, so the right blade was the bent one.
