I think I get it. It does appear I was mistaken. The original bend effect wasn't being lost, but transferred to the rotated object and giving a different effect. After reexamining I don't know where I got the idea it was being lost. Converting the path of the original object before unlinking the clo...

I created a clone of an object so I could bend the original then rotate the clone independently. But, when I unlink the clone I lose the bend from the original.

Is there any way to unlink the clone, keeping the changes intact?

Thanks..