Metal bent over a sharp edge gets a stress riser that causes the break in most cases  A " Higley" type pin bender is the best thing to use.
If you think K&S steel is tough you should have seen REAL music wire.  The stuff they sell these days is nowhere near what we used to get both in finish and strength.

BTW, IMO brass would be a big disappointment for you.  Easy to bend but not good for an LG application.

anybody ever try brass rod for landing gear? EVER TIME I TRY TO USE K&S STEEL AND BEND IT  IT BREAKS whats up with that?

   What sort of bending tool are you using? The K&S wire bender works fine for me:

http://www.ehobbies.com/k-s323.html?utm_source=k-s323&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=froogle

    Can't complain about $10.

    I have heard all sort of complaints about various brands of music wire but I haven't had many problems with it.

   Brass won't work. An alternative that might would be titanium:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#titanium/=13ndf0

    Not terribly expensive at 1/8x36 for about $17, Ti 6AL-4V and quite a bit lighter.  It might be a little on the springy side but the next size up that I could easily find was 3/16 which is too large. But if you can't reliably bend music wire you aren't likely to do better with Titanium.

     Brett