No carbon fibre rod cannot be bent at all. I use it on most of my competitive as well as sport airplanes and will typically use the 1/16 th size and the 2-56 threaded rod fits perfectly, It is incerted about an inch and secured with epoxie. A clevis is used on one end And usually I will use a piece of rod on the other end with the S bend already made up, every thing is fitted and then marked the rod is removed and that last end is epoxied. Perfect length every time.

Actually the the one thing that would improve linkages on many airplanes and particularly many arfs is not necessarily changing push rods but eliminating all bends. By carefully planing exit holes in the fuselage rods in most cases can be totally straight. This may not be the location indicated by arf manfacturers.

John