Mountain Biking - Help with derailleurs

Hello all, i recently brought a Giant STP Zero 06 model, (just incase anyone wants to know the bike is wicked and i havent had any problems with it appart from this one) and today i was riding around and i was doing some side on bunny hops onto these bench type things, and because i dindt get the bunny hops right every time i hit the derailleurs a few times, and after i hit them the second time i started to hear this bad crunching sound from them. When i got it home i pulled of the back type and noticed that the derailleurs were a little bent, nothing huge, so i pushed them into more of a straight line and the sound went for a little while but then it came back. I'm not a bike mechanic so im sure there are probably other things i can do/should do, because its kind of a hassle to take it back to the shop i got it from because i brought it from another state. So does anyone had similar problems or know what i should be looking at in this situation? Any feedback would be really helpful, thanks guys :)

You must have bet your derailleur hanger when you hit things. You probably bent the hanger back pretty close to where it belongs, but now you need to readjust the mech itself. Here's where to find info on that. (http://www.parktool.com/repair/) If you don't want to bother learning how to do it yourself, just take it to your local shop. This is a standard problem, it shouldn't cost much.

A good LBS will do the alignment for you for free assuming you bought your bike from them. I smacked my derailleur against a rock and realigned it myself to about 95%. I went into my LBS and they straightened the rear derailleur for me at no charge.

Unfortunately to get the derailleur hanger perfectly straight you will need a Park Tools DAG-1. Any decent shop will have one.

I have to ask why you were hopping onto stuff with your drivetrain side? Thats a real expensive way to learn how to sidehop!

I have to ask why you were hopping onto stuff with your drivetrain side? Thats a real expensive way to learn how to sidehop!
Most likely came from a BMX background and doesn't know any better

I have to ask why you were hopping onto stuff with your drivetrain side? Thats a real expensive way to learn how to sidehop!

lol seely, i never really thought of it like that! i pretty much just hop with my rght side because when i used to have my bmx bikes i would have the pegs on the right side and i guess ive just gotten used to it. But ill have to change it, also i was worried that i would land on the disc break and maybe bend them or stuff them up somehow. Cheers for the tips though everyone :D

I have to ask why you were hopping onto stuff with your drivetrain side? Thats a real expensive way to learn how to sidehop!

assuming the bike has disc brakes, hopping up on the left side could be pretty expensive as well. if you thrash the rotor, you're not going to be riding home. if you thrash your derailleur, you can usually get home.

personally, i'd rather side-up on my left side as well, but if i was trying that stuff, i'd be using rim brakes for sure.

it sounds like he bent the RD cage as well as the hanger. the hanger is pretty easy to fix with the DAG, the derailleur itself can be pretty tricky, depending on how damaged it is. take it to the shop you bought it from and they should repair it for around $10, if not free.