Bugger.....killed my rear derailleur :-(

Well bugger......having a lovely time yesterday afternoon on my cheap and
nasty Malvern Star mountain bike and suddenly everything came grinding to a
halt. Somehow, I managed to get a piece of branch through the back spokes,
from the left side, and into the chain and derailleur. The derailleur is
now considerably bent and looks like it can't be pulled apart to any
significant degree for repairs. It's a 7SIS Shimano unit. Is it worth
trying to bend it back into shape, or are they inexpensive enough to just
replace?

What a pain in the bum.....I was just about to sell/trade this bike so I
could step up to a 'proper' mountain bike shortly.

MrBonk
www.mrbonk.com

MrBonk wrote:
Well bugger......having a lovely time yesterday afternoon on my cheap
and nasty Malvern Star mountain bike and suddenly everything came
grinding to a halt. Somehow, I managed to get a piece of branch
through the back spokes, from the left side, and into the chain and
derailleur. The derailleur is now considerably bent and looks like
it can't be pulled apart to any significant degree for repairs. It's
a 7SIS Shimano unit. Is it worth trying to bend it back into shape,
or are they inexpensive enough to just replace?

What a pain in the bum.....I was just about to sell/trade this bike
so I could step up to a 'proper' mountain bike shortly.

It sounds like a cheapo derailleur to me (can't find one for sale on
Wiggle). I've got an Alivio on my bike, £22 or so and it's handled having
twigs and stuff caught up in it fine. Just stopped the bike, untangled
everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back though. Try Sheldon
Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).

On Sun, 30 May 2004 10:04:38 +0100, Doki wrote:

It sounds like a cheapo derailleur to me (can't find one for sale on
Wiggle). I've got an Alivio on my bike, £22 or so and it's handled having
twigs and stuff caught up in it fine. Just stopped the bike, untangled
everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back though. Try Sheldon
Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).

Sounds like he might have the old style of rear mech, before it became the
norm to have an allen bolt onto a hanger. Which means his frame probably
cant take a new 'style' rear mech. Which means finding an old one is going
to be a bitch.

--
Matt

Fear of a flat planet

Matthew Paterson wrote:
On Sun, 30 May 2004 10:04:38 +0100, Doki wrote:

It sounds like a cheapo derailleur to me (can't find one for sale on
Wiggle). I've got an Alivio on my bike, £22 or so and it's handled
having twigs and stuff caught up in it fine. Just stopped the bike,
untangled everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back
though. Try Sheldon Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).

Sounds like he might have the old style of rear mech, before it
became the norm to have an allen bolt onto a hanger. Which means his
frame probably cant take a new 'style' rear mech. Which means finding
an old one is going to be a bitch.

Yeah it's a claw style attachment on those, and they are still supplied on
almost all cheapo bikes, so are readily available as spares from the more
'family oriented' bike shops at least. Should be able to get a new one for
less than a tenner without too much difficulty.

--
Mark

untangled everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back
though. Try Sheldon Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).


Did you mean to say you can bend derailleurs back, or the hangars back?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

ZeeExSixAre wrote:
untangled everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back
though. Try Sheldon Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).


Did you mean to say you can bend derailleurs back, or the hangars
back?

I meant derailleurs. You might be able to bend hangers back. It'd all depend
on how it bent in the first place...

Well, I managed to bend it back into shape and it actually works :-) It's
out of adjustment (obviously), but will do the job until I get my new bike
soon!

MrBonk
www.mrbonk.com

"Doki" wrote in message
...


ZeeExSixAre wrote:
untangled everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back
though. Try Sheldon Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).


Did you mean to say you can bend derailleurs back, or the hangars
back?

I meant derailleurs. You might be able to bend hangers back. It'd all
depend
on how it bent in the first place...

Doki wrote:
ZeeExSixAre wrote:
untangled everything and carried on. You can bend derailleurs back
though. Try Sheldon Brown's website or Park Tools (google for them).


Did you mean to say you can bend derailleurs back, or the hangars
back?

I meant derailleurs. You might be able to bend hangers back. It'd all
depend on how it bent in the first place...

Enlighten me - I'm only aware of using a tool such as the Park DAG to bend
the hangar back.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training