Eric, I've bent derailleur hangers more than once...I have yet to "snap off" a derailleur hanger on a steel bike. I also purchased the derailleur hanger alignment tool Jim mentioned, they are easy to use. I thought it would be worth having as it makes me more "self-sufficient."
Things happen on rides, that's one reason we ride steel. Yesterday a fast and experienced member of my local bike club hit a big bump in the road and crashed; the crash destroyed his carbon frame. He will recover and the bike will be replaced...I'd rather be straightening derailleur hangers on a steel frame than replacing a carbon one. Angus On May 30, 8:30 pm, EricP <ericpl...@aol.com> wrote: > Decided this morning to do a bit of exploring on the Hillborne. > Figured why not try to ride out to the Coon Rapids Regional Dam. > Figured the round trip would be 40 to 50 miles. Unless I got lost or > added to the ride. Both of which ended up happening. > > The first part of the ride was fairly routine and easy. Through areas > ridden before. Came to the dividing line between familiar and new > territory. On the other side was a group of folks who were obviously > touring. Not obviously lost, but a quick hail from them confirmed > they were (sort of). Helped as best I could (sort of). Then offered > them my copy of the local cycling map. One noted that the map seemed > to be hard to get and they did not want to bother me. I pretty much > insisted, knowing it wasn't that difficult to find a replacement. We > parted ways with the tourists being very grateful about a map to > supplement the directions they had. > > Headed on, but sans paper "security blanket". Actually, as the route > planned was mostly bike paths, this did not prove a major problem. > Except for one section where I did get lost and added about 2 miles. > It was a nice lost, though. And discovered another route to take > later. Eventually ended up at my destination. > > Decided to add the mileage and head back down the other side of the > river. Good call. Came upon a group looking at an osprey nest. On > high tension power lines. Was there to see the mother come back for a > landing. Very impressive. > > After a few more stops (lunch and later picking up a map at Hiawatha > Cyclery) headed home. > > Where luck changed. Parked the bike and waited for garage door to > open. Big gust of wind came up. Knocking the Hillborne over on the > drive side. Ouch. Heard an ugly crunch. Besides everything from the > saddlebag strewn about, the rear derailer was at a bad angle. Like > touching spokes. Not good. Then saw the rear hanger. Owie. At that > point, tears did well up for a few seconds. Figured the frame was > damaged beyond repair. > > Put bike away and headed inside to tell wife the bad news. Also to > think. Five minutes or so later decided to head back out to assess > the damage. Put the bike in the stand and, well, actually not so > bad. Hmm. Maybe I could even "fix" it. Take rear derailer off. > Grab 6mm wrench. Carefully insert in hole. Carefully exert > pressure. Hanger bends back. To about the correct angle. Derailer > back on. Shift. Thankfully friction. Everything seems to work. > Adjustments still good. Probably not perfect. Hopefully good enough > to ride for a week until I take it into the shop. > > Haven't done a ride on it yet. That will come tomorrow. Still too > close to the "incident" to feel fully comfortable taking a ride > tonight. A really serious scare. Have had bikes tip over before. > Never had that happen. > > A few photos here:http://tinyurl.com/kubbdv > > Sorry about the length of this post. Hopefully talking about it will > get me to worry about it a smidgen less. > > Eric Platt > St. Paul, MN --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
