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@Madebynick
Aside from weakening tubing etc, I would imagine it would be very difficult to ensure any bars you made were perfectly symmetrical in all planes. As the bars are an interaction point if you like, it would only take a mistake of a few mm for everything to feel 'wonky'.
Having said that, I would go for it! You don't learn anything without trying. Even if you use a heavy gauge bar to start with, I imagine it would teach you a lot about the techniques you would need to employ.
If you can find a shop with a computer controlled mandrel bender (I know there are engineering companies who offer the service; find them in the yellow pages) then they would be able to produce an accurate job and could advise on bar choices etc.
As a warning against heat treating too; be very careful or you'll end up with a brittle bar that is likely to fail suddenly. Steel, albeit heavier than alu, is more ductile and will at least start to bend rather than snap (dependent on exact material and treatment of course) If you're looking at bending tighter radii at home, steel would be my choice.
Anyway, I'd love to see some pictures of any attempts. I'll send you some of the wood bars I'm building in exchange.