They do bend slightly, right at the hollow rod, but only very slightly. All you need to overlap the 2 pushrods with the hollow rod that connects to the servo is about 1", thats it... The trick for me to keeping it smooth was to set it up so that the point at which the pushrods exit the clear tube is several (maybe 4-6") inches back from the servo arm. That way there is 3-5" of clearance for the pushrods to slide without hitting the curved portion right at the joint.