I got distracted while I was pulling up to the store yesterday and ground against the concrete sidewalk. How worried should I be?

Hanger look straight? Shift OK? If so, just get out the black sharpie.

If shifting is unaffected, then no problem.

Clean up with a file or sandpaper, touch up w/ sharpie or nail polish if you care.

in the unlikely event that something got bent, simple fix at the bike shop to align the derailleur.

As of now there aren't any shifting issues that I could detect. The derailleur shifted as nicely on the way home as it ever did. There's no hanger per se - the derailleur is bolted directly to the steel dropout.

As for the aesthetics of it, though it does look nasty and painful, the rest of the bike isn't perfectly manicured, either. A few battle scars here and there, you might say. So yeah, I guess some gray paint is in order, then! Thanks fellows!

Since there are no shifting issues, the damage is only cosmetic. Touch up the paint or leave it as is for bragging rights.

It's like some of the metal is gone - shaved off! I cringe just looking at it!

It is disconcerting when skilled craftsmen build these beautiful mechanisms, and we get a scratch.

If you just scraped the curb, and the only part that touched was the outboard (movable) part of the derailleur, and the shifting is still great, you probably are ok.

If you really wanted to check this out, have the bike shop use a hanger alignment tool to check the hanger, and re-install and adjust the derailleur.

It looks like this, and ensures that the derailleur pivot bolt (the main bolt holding your derailleur to the hanger) is perpendicular to the plane of the wheel.

A little flat-black model enamel (paint) will cover the glaring scratches.

I find that nail polish is faster to dry, and pretty hard when dry.

Battle scars. Wear them with pride.

Sharpies and nail polish will only make it look like someone tried to hide a mistake, which in this case will actually be true.

just a fleshwound

It'll buff right out!

If it is shifting correctly and nothing seems loose, wobbly or different in it's behavior, then consider it adds to the character of your bike. Whether that is a negative or a positive depends on the individual and sometimes circumstances.

For my everyday riding enjoyment, I would not care about scratches and other aesthetics. If I were going to use the bike for promotional purposes I'd probably want it to look piss-perfect.

Of course sometimes the true damage might not show up till many miles after the incident that caused it. But will you be better to replace it now or wait and see if it makes it half a lifetime as opposed to a full lifetime?

look at it this way if it still shifts ok and hanger is straight you've shaved off some weight

Some people will go to any extent to shave a bit of weight off their bike!!

You mean like these brake levers that where on my '78 Raleigh Competition G.S. ?? I don't know if the original owner did this or it was factory new like this to feed the fad of the day. I can't see how those holes add up to much. Add's more interest visually I suppose.

They definitely look prettier than how my derailleur looks now!

Those Weinmann levers are from the days of "drillium" where every high end part was drilled to death to save weight. I actually don't remember too many failures from this but not something recommended for the home mechanic to experiment with.

Looks like a flesh wound.

Or pray to the bike gods. You got lucky. Could have easy recked the frame (since there is no hanger) and your frame could have been toast.

Everything's in order back there - dropout, derailleur, and cassette look perfectly aligned, with no shifting issues. We're good.

+1 Beat me to it!

stop... great pics