Originally Posted by
BobbyG
It is possible that when the chain came off it pushed or pulled the derailleur out of alignment. You don't say if it's the front or rear. On the front the guide may have been bent, or the mount rotated on the seat post. In the rear, the hanger may have been bent, or knocked out of alignment. There's also the possibility that some material from the cloth, either a strip or strand got caught in the mechanism or wrapped around a part. Also, depending on how dirty the chain was, a piece of grit may have got caught in the mechanism limiting its motion.
Makes sense.
So my plan is to clean my chain, which definitely is in need. I have logged about 300 miles on it the past few weeks and it's a bit grubby. I then need to learn how to align my derailluer. Any good resources for learning maintenance on these? I really know nothing about cleaning or fixing a derailleur.
I have a chain cleaner that just showed up. In this situation, should I use that or just take the chain off and drop it in degreaser? Or does it really matter? The cleaner says to have the chain on the small ring, so that is probably the best way to do it.
My plan before this happened was to be able to clean my bike and chain and lube my chain on a weekly basis. Just the simple stuff. But this will be good to learn too.