gpo1956

I bought a 2014 Specialized Crosstown Sport in July 2 of this year. I have put 360 miles on it. Yesterday I was riding up a hill that I've ridden up pretty much daily and heard a pop and the pedals stuck. I looked down and the rear derailleur had snapped in two and part of it was wedged in the spokes. I noticed that the rear wheel is now out of round. I walked it home and this morning I took it back to the LBS from whom I bought it. I was told that I would have to pay for the parts and repairs, that it wasn't covered under warranty. I was told that it couldn't just break like that and that I had to have broken it by changing gears under too much load or else I had done somethiing to cause the damage. I argued that it had never been wrecked , dropped or otherwise abused, but they refused to budge. They roughly figured $100 to replace and tune the derailleur and fix the wheel. I guess my question is, should this not be coverable under warranty? This seems to be total BS as far as I concerned.

Retro Grouch 

Warranty issue = manufacturing defect. The question is: "what defect are you alleging?"

It sounds to me like you somehow shifted your derailleur into the spokes. I'm wondering how that might have happened and why it didn't happen earlier.

gpo1956

Warranty issue also = part failure.

JimPz

Odds are the derailleur shifted into the spokes, then broke. Not a warranty issue from a part failing.
However, you might be able to push the issue that the LBS didn't assemble the bike correctly, allowing the derailleur to shift into the spokes.
Most shops have a 'free' 230 day tune up/adjustment period.
Did your shop & did you bring it in for one?

headloss 

Not sure what to say. Sucks. Wish we had a time machine to go back and do an inspection to see what happened before it happened... then I'd have an opinion.

Al1943

I saw this happen to a bike with a tight link in the chain. The chain was clean and dry with no lubricant, and that was the cause of the tight link. When the tight link hit the rear derailleur it could not run through so the derailleur was twisted right off the bike. The dropout plate was also twisted and pulled out of the chainstay. The Trek factory fixed it for $300 plus shipping.

FBinNY 

The fact that you were in low gear poits to a specific possibility. Not an absolute face, but a realistic possibility.

Odds are that the low gear limit was off a bit allowing the RD to move in too far toward the wheel. This could cause the cage to snag a spoke, or the chain to overshift and pull the RD in with it. So, it's the getting caught by the wheel that destroyed the RD, not the other way around.

As to why a limit might be off, the most common reason is the hanger getting bent in if the bike is dropped on it's right side.

As I said, this only describes what "could" happen, not necessarily what did.

IMO, the shop might be right saying it's not warranty, but they might not be. When I was in retail we settled these types of situations by giving the customer of the doubt, but insisted they hear why it might not be warranty. In grayer cases we'd split the difference and offer a deeply discounted repair.

We also kept a jar where we collected donations for a local church that had a bike program their impoverished members. If we went the extra mile to do free work that should have been charged, we'd ask that they donate whatever they thought was appropriate. Often times folks would gladly donate the entire sum that we waived.

Talk to the shop, and see if you can work out a middle ground gray area settlement both of you can live with.

bikepro

While I agree the RD may not have been adjusted properly, I'm not sure how it could hit the spokes with the spoke protector (dork disk) in place. I'd return it to the bike shop and expect them to correct the problem -- at no charge.

bikepro

This is more plausible than the RD hit the spokes.

gpo1956

I lubed the chain week before last with White Lightning Clean Ride.

noglider 

I see this happen all the time. The bike owner lays the bike down on its right side and bends the derailleur hanger. Or it gets slapped by a self-closing door. It happens without the owner noticing it at all!

Then the bike rides fine, with the owner not knowing it, but actually, the bike is in a lower gear than it should be because of the misalignment. It shifts through some but not all of the gears.

Then the owner shifts down, and the derailleur goes into the spokes. The owner does not correlate the shifting action with the hanger bending, and he has no reason to, because he doesn't know about the bending.

Running the derailleur into the spokes ruins the derailleur and often damages the wheel.

As I said, I've seen this happen a lot, and the owner is not at all conscious of playing a part in the cause.

rydabent

Personally I would send an e-mail off to the Mfg of the bike and report the LBS. Apparently they are too damned lazy to write up the warrenty to the mfg.

Looigi

Happened to me laying the bike down on its left side! What I didn't know until later was that some guy had stumbled and accidentally stepped on my RD while the bike was lying there.

andr0id

Jamming a road bike into a rack rear wheel first is a common cause also that most people don't realize is harmful and they can get bent hanging from a rear rack with other bikes.


But it's easy enough to tell if the hangers bent or if they didn't adjust the lower stop correctly. Either the hanger alignment tool is going to show it is straight or not straight. But I don't know if I would trust them at this point.

Lean your bike against a WALL.
Lay your bike on its left side.
Fork mount roof rack.

These are the 3 ways to prevent bending your hanger.

Wilfred Laurier

This would be a good point if it contained any reality based statements.

If the derailleur went into the spokes there are two possible causes:
Misadjusted limit screws, which is the fault of the shop who assembled the bike, no the manufacturer who sold the partially assembled bike to them, or the bike took a blow to the side which bent the hanger, which is the fault of the owner, even if the initial damage or impact was too minor to notice.
Either way, the manufacturer has no responsibility for this, so claiming the lbs is 'lazy' for not 'writing up the warrenty [sic]' is ridiculous. Especially because with most manufacturers, there is nothing to 'write up' for warranty service - generally, the shop calls the manufacturer or distributor, and gets an RMA number and sends the part back with the RMA number attached.

Homebrew01

You forgot the icon and "just kidding" comment at the end.

Homebrew01

"too much load" is a bogus claim.

But if you had been using the lowest (easiest) gear previously, and then 1 day it caused this problem, then something happened to the bike since you have been using it.
If this was the first time you used the lowest (easiest gear), then it's theoretically possible that it was mis-adjusted, and did not become apparent until now. Or it was fine, and got banged or such as others have already explained.

FBinNY 

This is a situation that screams for some sort of compromise. There's no way of knowing if the RD was misadjusted by th dealer, or the hanger bend by owner misuse, or even if the hanger or RD were defective as supplied by the manufacturer.

So folks could argue about black and white claims or accept that this is a murky gray area and seek a compromise.

If I were called to mediate, I'd suggest that the dealer provide the labor free, and the customer pay something for the parts (heavily discounted from retail or at cost). Or if the manufacturer can pony up the parts free (most would), the dealer works free, and the customer now with nothing left to pay, make a donation to an agreed upon charity to cover the chance that he was responsible.

The main point is that since nobody can be shown to be totally responsible, nobody should eat the loss solo.

fietsbob

This was a Wall-Mart Schwinn? a guess based on the really cheap parts pick for the crank-set in the offered picture.


That is between them and you .. but thanks for venting ..

gpo1956

Just got the call from the store. $88 to fix. Obvious to them that it was my fault and nothing they would do. I've ridden this bike almost daily since 7/2 and never had any problems with it until Tuesday. The black plastic part of the derailleur snapped cleanly in half and the part with the cog was jammed into the spokes. I fell off to the right side when it stopped. I picked it up and it rolled backwards slightly and the cog piece fell off and dropped to the chain as in the picture. It rode in the back of my truck yesterday morning while I made my way to North Little Rock. I drove through 1"+ per hour rain storm and the bike was soaked when I got in. Mechanic looked at it this afternoon and said there was rust on it where it had been dinged. Said it couldn't have happened Tuesday even after being in the back of my truck for 4 hours. This was just too orchestrated from the begining. They were not in the least acurious about the details of what happened or how. It was just immediately decided that it was my fault. I KNOW the history of the bike, they weren't in the least interested. Extremely angry, but have learned my lesson.

fietsbob

Perhaps the replacement RD will be selected from further up the Food Chain , so the piece that was plastic that broke, the next one won't be plastic.

YGWYPF.

RoadGuy

Yes, it looks like it was a inexpensive bike, regardless of where it was purchased. And, regardless of where it came from, the Owner is going to feel pain when his/her relatively new toy/vehicle got broke.

While I have never owned or worked in a bike shop, I do have over 40 years experience working in retail stores, and on my own bikes. I have never had a failure like that, or seen one in person, although I have seen photos before. I understand that this type of failure is usually caused by a mis-adjusted rear derailleur OR a bent rear derailleur or derailleur hanger. But I can also see this type of failure being caused by failure of the plastic derailleur body.

I have seen plenty of cases where the Customer is not always Right, but the store bends to the wishes of the Customer in order to make the Customer happy. Since the bike was near new, it should have had a warranty on it. The Manufacturer should replace the broken/failed part/s for free and get them back so they can study the failed part/s. The shop paid for it's service when they sold the bike and the continued patronage of the Customer is how the shop gets paid for the labor to repair the damage.

I don't see how it is the Customer's fault that the part/s failed, and the Customer should not unfairly bear the cost of this particular repair. In the absence of evidence of fault, the Customer should be given the benefit of doubt. The shop should not make a profit on the misfortune of it's Customer (when it's not the Customer's fault), nor should eat the cost of the replacement part/s. I don't like inexpensive/poor quality parts, regardless of the price. I go out of my way to point out the ways that inferiority/cheap parts are not the way to go, when quality parts are available for the same or little more money. Maybe the shop can talk the Owner into an upgrade to an all metal derailleur (Customer pays the price different in cost) since it needs to be replaced anyway., and the shop provide the labor free of charge.

To the Owner: I hope you learned your lesson. A less expensive, higher quality used bike for less money is always a better bet then a new shiny inexpensive bike from a store. No matter where you buy a bike, new or used, when you wheel it out from the Seller's place, know that you are on your own. The warranty, if any is only going to do you any good if a major part like the frame turns out to be bad during the warranty period. For everything else, it's going to be on you, so learn to wrench on your own bike.

FBinNY 

Don't authorize the repair yet. There's an appeals process, and you should give it a try. Track down and phone the manufacturer or importer. Explain the situation, and your displeasure. Make sure they understand that you don't think it's your fault, and ask if there's any way they can help you. These companies care about their reputations and are often more flexible than their dealers. There's a decent chance they'll offer you the part, but not the labor. It's about your ability to negotiate a reasonable compromise.

OR

If the RD and frame show no evidence to support the idea that it's your fault, ie. scratches on the bottom RD body to support the notion of a bent hanger, you can take this to small claims court. If it's under a warranty that includes parts and labor, the burden will be on the dealer to explain how this is your fault, not a defect. The odds greatly favor you here. BTW- spend the extra dough to sue and serve both the dealer and maker. Given the stakes they'd probably try to settle this before a hearing rather than take their chances with a small town judge.

BTW- there's an excellent chance that it's your fault, but the dealer should be able to show you how, and not just say you shifted wrong, which is nonsense.

gpo1956

I'd be glad to email the pictures to any of you more experienced members. They were taken immediately after getting home. I can't find any rust as they noted, although I might not be looking in the right areas.

RoadGuy

I don't see how rust on the bike could cause the derailleur body to break without warning, unless the chain was/is badly rusted and stiff as a result. Sounds to me like the shop was fishing for a reason to weasel out of the warranty.