I took a ride the other day after a rain. My bike got pretty muddy and dirt was everywhere, and by the end I found that my second gear on the front derailleur wasn't working well. By the end of the ride the chain would always get stuck if I switched to it. So I figured maybe some cleaning would help. I bought some degreaser and a handy little tool at the bike shop. I started cleaning the front derailleur, and lo and behold, the second gear was bent! In any case, I went back to the bike shop to get an estimate. I was told that my drivetrain is a mess and that might be why this happened. He said it was dirty and there is too much lube on it... Out of curiousity, does anyone know the reasoning for this? He told me that they could try to realign it, but if that didn't work they would need to order a new part and install it. He also said that they would want to clean out the drivetrain as well. Well, all that was going to be 80 bucks and I'm kinda broke right now. So I cleaned it as best I could without taking the bike apart (he said the cleaning would be $40). I'm wondering if someone has any experience with this... and if it's possible that I can just bend the gear back into place myself. I just don't know if I could further damage the bike. I'm attaching a picture of it as well.
Thanks for reading and for any help you can give.
Oh, and the bike is a Specialized Rockhopper 2004.

80 is a rip. No the overlube did not cause the ring damage. Yes it is fixable by you.

Any questions?

Well, my question would be how to fix that bent ring or replace it if necessary.
Thanks.

I can't tell how bent it is from the picture. It's kind of unusual for the middle ring to be the one to get bent. Do you have any idea how it might have happened?

You'll probably have to take your chainring cluster apart to fix the middle ring without screwing up one of the others. That's not too hard to do but it's labor intensive. Notice which way all of the chainrings go and where any washers or shims go. If it's only one tooth, clamp a 6" Crescent wrench on the bent tooth and bend it back. If there's a larger bent section, try clamping the bent area in a bench vise and straighting the ring that way. EZ does it. Don't get in too much of a hurry.

yep 80 bucks is a rip off. 40 for the cleaning :lol: take off the chain ring and bend it back into position. works slowly though, little at a time. you may not get it perfect but it will work. Put it against a bench to get it flat. I cant see how too much lube or dirt can bend a chainring but thats okay.

just get a rubber mallet and start hammering it. thats what m LBS did.. mine bent the exact same way. took them 10 seconds.

Well I just talked with another bike shop who said to leave it on the bike and use a super large screwdriver. He said to wedge it in there and just try to bend it back. So it sounds like there are plenty of methods, but bending it is acceptable. So I'll give it a shot, if it doesn't work I guess I'll need to get a new part, maybe I can install it myself as well.
Thanks all.

if you get desperate or something goes terribly wrong you can replace the chainring anyways, they are not terribly expensive. you can probably find a handsome deal on ebay.

I find that a pair of needle nose pliers and a hammer work really good on my mountain bike, but go at it slowly.

Well, I got the ring off and hammered away (with a rubber mallet). I couldn't get it as straight as it should be, but the bike rides fine now. Anyone think that it being somewhat bent could be problematic in the future? I'll also try the pliers.

If it isnt perfectly straight I doubt any problems will occur. needle nose pliers work well for single teeth.