Stu22

I went to Vail to do some biking and say hi to my cousins. I shipped it out there in a heavily padded cardboard bike box because I couldn't find any hard-shell boxes to fit my bike. Plus, other downhillers suggested to ship the bike in a box like that. Anyway, the bike survived the trip out there with no problems. Unfortunately, on the way back, it was not so lucky. At first, the bike looked absolutely fine. However, when I hopped on it to test out the gears, I noticed that my rear derailleur was harder to shift, was slipping a bit, was making an odd noise, and the chain fell off sometimes. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was bent inwards. Now, it was not like this before I packed it, and I packed the bike very well with tons and tons of soft materials.

The derailleur is literally pushing into the spokes when I shift. Here is what it looks like:

https://img70.imageshack.us/img70/5275/derailleurfa7.jpg

https://img70.imageshack.us/img70/156...illeur2qv9.jpg

https://img70.imageshack.us/img70/481...illeur3qe3.jpg

Getting a good picture of it is hard and that's the best I can do. Basically, it's bent inward towards the wheels and is hitting the spokes when I lower the gear, and is also making a scraping noise because the chain is not directly on it.

Is there any way I can make a claim to American Airlines to pay for the $60 part, or at least get a bike shop to bend it back? Or is it completely messed up and will absolutely require a replacement?

rmfnla

No offense but that is some piss-poor photography; you've managed not to show any of the parts relevant to the problem!

The key here is to determine what is bent. Odds are it's the derailleur hanger since they bend much more easily than a derailleur.

If the frame is steel the hanger can probably be bent back; this should not cost much and any decent shop will have the tools to do it right.

If the frame if aluminum or carbon it will most likely have a replaceable hanger; easy to install and about $10 to buy.

As to the claim, if the repair turns out to justify making one provide a copy of the bike shop receipt along with proof of the flight and your baggage claim (keep copies of everything) and submit a claim at the airlines' baggage counter.

Good luck, and work on those photography skills!

Stu22

I can't get a good picture of it because the camera is not like my SLR in a sense that it has almost zero features to adjust the picture. Plus, it's hard to take a picture of it when the bend can only be seen at a very certain angle that's hard to capture with a shoddy digital camera.

rmfnla

OK, so much for the photography.

What about the bike?