Bicycle Mechanics - Broken??

Okay, so I'm not terribly observant. I had a crash this weekend. Was just looking over my bike and trying to put pedals on when I noticed this:

Is this what it's supposed to look like, or did I do that when I fell? I don't know if that center piece is supposed to be recessed or not just near the "A" (newbie...don't know what everything's called yet!) .

Okay, so there was a picture there...but I'm not seeing it!

m

Mine looks like that too. No crash here.:crash:

Hey Nat, the pic is to dark at the area you are talking about so it is hard to tell what recesed part you are looking at.
Slainte:beer:

I made the pic a bit lighter. It looks fine to me. That piece you are talking about swings in and out depending on what gear you are in so it will change positions when you shift gears. More often then not you will bend your derailer hanger (the part the derailer is attached to) before breaking that part of the derailer.Here is the lighter pic
Slainte:beer:

Good!!! Thanks. There's a scrape just to the left that isn't visible in the picture so I had to ask! Learn a little something new everyday...

did you fall on the drive side? If so, how is your bike shifting now? I recently had a drive-side tumble, and found my derailleur hanger to be bent a little. I stuck a hex key in there and bent it back, and it's shifting well now. Before the fix, the RD pulleys were contacting spokes in the largest cog! But as someone said, your hanger is more likely to bend first. It probably wouldn't hurt to have someone look over your bike though, depending on how hard you crashed.

Dax

Yeah...THAT side. I'll be taking the darn thing in to switch out my pedals since my little wrench is almost knife sharp on the sides! Gotta get a better one.... So I'll mention it then.

Looks like a bent derailleur to me. Time for a new one.

Your bike will probably see more damage than this over time.
As long as it's shifting OK leave it alone.