Wilsons Sandbox

Hello All, A timeline: 0) Bought Alpinestars, trouble shifting. Contemplated moving up one spline. Too lazy, adapted. 1) Toe of shifter (rubber covered) now appears to be bent towards front of bike some, not a 90 degree anymore. 2) Installed Moose skid plate, one of the pipe clamps prevented downshift to first. Removed clamp. 3) I've had a little trouble coming up short and missing second gear (see number 4?) 4) Noticed play in shifter assembly is allowing a nice gouge in the engine casing from upshifting. 5) Today while prepping for Moab, now the frame isn't allowing a downshift to 1st, gouging the frame. I can't upshift, or downshift. I thought that the OEM shifter was supposed to break, not bend? Thinking of removing and bending the shifter to get me to Moab and pick up an aftermarket from Fred? Any hints on bending, or.........how the shiftlever used to go down to 1st but now hits frame? Much indebted, Eric Colorado Springs A13L 1st bike, hoping to get to my 1st rally!