Just like you say, dull to cherry red heat, bend it to shape while it still is red, and then let it aircool slowly to keep the stresses down in the metal structure, if you want hard and brittle quench it in a bucket of water or oil or the like. Ive never annealed my kickstart on my sp and I have to build it back up with weld once or twice a year when it wears, and this kickstart is a homemade one after the oem one got tired of being repaired, its some funny steel chrome alloy rather than straight steel though but that doesnt seem to matter. You will destroy any finish or chrome on it, so its black paint time or rechrome afterwards, and youll of course need to regrease all the moving bits too. Welders gloves and a big vice come in handy but dont hold on too long as youll get burnt inside the gloves after a couple of seconds, you want to be doing the bending with something that wont mind getting hot, like a big adjustable spanner or the like or a pipe slipped over the end and position the jaws of the vice to encourage it to bend in the right place.
What might be a idea is to make a test piece of something you can bend to shape a lot easier, like thick wire or the like, and use it to check that nothing unexpected will foul or suprise you with the valve lifter operated or the plug out, before you bend the original one as itll end up being a right shape if you have to take 3 or 4 bites at it getting it right, and youll be able to use the test piece as a bending pattern to get it right first time too.
