Derailleurs! Can't live with them, can't live without them

[lethargic_man]

When I last got my bike fixed after getting the derailleur bent out of shape falling off, the guy in the shop took the derailleur off, and simply used a bloody great crowbar to bend the hanger it was mounted on back into shape. I thought: I paid £££ for this? I could do this myself!

Then, just eight days later, I got knocked off my bike and put the derailleur slightly out of joint again. So, on Sunday I try straightening it myself. Hah! After half an hour of oscillating between too far on either side, I give up. The thing's now worse than it was before—I can't get into top gear, and dursn't go into bottom. I take the bike to the bike shop, where they tell me they wouldn't like to bend the hanger back for fear of it snapping. So that's £12.45 for a new hanger (including P&P from Edinburgh), possibly more for labour (I tightened the derailleur-securing bolt too far putting it back on, and now the Alan key just turns loosely so I can't take it off again), and possibly a new derailleur if, as the guy in the bike shop thought, it's bent outwards, though I can't see how it could have been.

So now that's almost two years of derailleur annus horribilis. The thing is, I'm convinced this is just a run of very bad luck: I had eight years, and nearly ten thousand miles of commuting, beforehand, without a squeak out of the derailleurs on my various bikes (that I remember, though the fact this is the first reference in my mail archive argues against gaps in my memory). (I think I might have possibly written one off during the previous widely spaced 1300 miles, as a teenager, but can't remember for certain.) Sooner or later, my luck has to pick up again. It's just bloody well taking its time.

I used to suffer from punctures all the time; now, though, I've only had one in the 2000 miles since I got my new bike. I almost find myself hankering for the old day: punctures are so much cheaper to repair than derailleurs...

Comments

[curious-reader.livejournal.com]

As if we were living in middle of nowhere or was it not London, I mean the bike shop? The bike shops should have everything handy. Why do they need to order it from Edingburgh? Maybe next time it is USA or Canada.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

The bike was made by the Edinburgh Cycle Cooperative; some parts are standard, but others bespoke parts made by the Edinburgh Cycle Cooperative, which have to be ordered from their website.

It was my choice to buy an own-brand bike from there... but it was a good choice, as it was really good value for money.