Bad experience with REI/co-op cycles
 

I was going to buy a decent bike at a real bike shop, when I realized that I was still an REI member and asked myself why I wasn't shopping there. I did go and shop there for new bike, had a bad experience, got into a couple of conflicts with the bike shop manager I'm assuming? I don't know why I didn't leave right then. Every time I had someone knowledgeable helping me and we were starting to make progress toward figuring out what I needed she would tell them that she needed them to be on break right now, or that she needed them to do something. She eventually got exasperated and pretty much told me that I was just wasting her time and that she needed me to make up my mind as to which bike I wanted. I should have walked out right then, I knew that, but, for some reason I bought the co-op cycles cty 1.1. less than a month later the derailleur hanger shattered, and I have spent more than 6 weeks trying to figure out which derailleur hanger that bike uses. I have took a stab in the dark and tried ordering a couple of them that were similar, but, they didn't fit and it was just a waste of money. I spent a good portion of my day trying to find out from REI who the bicycles manufacturer is, haven't gotten anywhere there. I use that bicycle to commute to work, and, I've had to use more Uber rides in the last few months then I ever have before, at this rate I may just have to write off the price of the bike, because, without a fitting derailleur hanger, I'm not sure I can even dump it on anyone else, and, I can't use it myself, so I guess all I can get for is the cost of scrap metal, and salvage components? Which, it doesn't have great components to begin with, so, I really don't know why I bought it

I'll bite...Why didn't you go to that "real bike shop" you considered in the first place to get a replacement hanger?

BTW...This is basically a duplicate of the other thread you started. Non-kosher.

I'm not a fan of people who create bf accounts just to start slamming a bike shop or bike manufacturer...That's the sort of attitude that makes me wonder if the REI bike shop manager was correct about you. But nonetheless, I'll offer a couple suggestions:

1) Take the bike back to REI and ask them to replace the derailleur hanger, or at least give you the ordering info.
2) If the above doesn't work, just return the bike for a refund if it's been less than one year.

PS: I've never heard of a derailleur hanger "shattering."

I’m really not a fan of buying new bikes in general. There are so many better deals to be had through bike co-op’s, craigslist, facebook and ebay. Just something to consider for any future endeavors.

I empathize with you otherwise, I’ve had my share of buyers remorse and difficult customer service issues when buying a bike. These large corporate sporting goods retailers should be avoided like the plague. Your LBS on the other hand, under the right circumstances, can be a great place to get fitted for a bike.

Im sure the derailleur hanger exists and a reputable bike shop should be able to help.

What's the point of your thread? Just take the bike back to REI and get a replacement or a refund ...

The purpose of the hanger is not only for mounting the rear derailleur, but also to protect the more expensive derailleur from damage. Not sure how a derailleur hanger shatters. I've seen them bent.

A bent derailleur hanger really implies some mishap occurred to bend the hanger whether the owner is aware of that incident that damaged it or not. Possibly being just one month old at the time, REI might have fixed it for little more cost than the part. I don't think REI's bikes are bad bikes. Certainly any other bike with a rear derailleur might have suffered the same damage.

I thought it was shattered
 

There wasn't even enough left of it for the local bike shop service manager to recognize what it was until I told him. I assumed that that was the case, that the derailleur hanger is supposed to protect the derailleur? The problem with that is a new derailleur of the type that I have for that bike was 1395 from Amazon and I could have got it the next day, I'm still looking for the right derailleur hanger well over 6 weeks later

Why?
 

He couldn't get me one, he wasn't able to find the part number either he said he could try to order one if he could find it, but it would take quite a while to get in. But since he couldn't find it anyways. I'm actually going to try back there again, and another bike shop

Naw, BITD before removable derailleur hangers, in some cases a situation that would wreck a removable derailleur hangar would require $300-ish in bicycle framebuilder labor.

At a month old you shoulda taken it back to REI, even now at 2.5 months old I'd take it back to REI, bike tech will email for replacement part, then put it on when it comes in. If it's a part that a lot of Co-op bikes use then they might have some in a bin.

Sorry about that
 

Didn't realize there was etiquette against multiple related threads, the reason why I posted two threads this one was specifically sharing my experience with REI with other cyclists to perhaps find out if that's common / Warren other cyclists to beware if they are going to shop there, where is the other thread was specifically asking for advice on how to find a derailleur hanger. Again, apologies for the impropriety

Remove the rear wheel and any remaining hanger bits, take a photo of the drive side dropout and I'll take a crack at finding the hanger later tonight.

You can return it up to a year.

BTW- I've only had good experiences with REI bike shops. Both King of Prussia and before that Conshohocken in PA.

I have had good experience with REI taking into account their business model. A step up from Academy but don’t expect LBS level of service.

Just curious---what happened the instant before the hangar "shattered"? Was there some sort of incident, or did it just spontaneously explode into so many pieces it was completely unrecognizable? D*mn suicide bomber derailleur hangars... Thank God you weren't injured.

This seems dubious.

It might be helpful to you to provide more detail here.

This is for a City 1.1 from 2017-2020. There's a reasonable chance your bike uses the same hanger.

https://derailleurhanger.com/manufac...ty-1-12017-20/

https://wheelsmfg.com/derailleur-han...hanger-38.html

Did I miss why you haven't taken it back to REI and let them fix it? When you do, ask them to help you figure what you did wrong so you won't break the new one.:thumb:

How about addressing the return issue, or did you bend the hanger, causing the RD cage to shift into the spokes? I’ve seen that happen twice, including once with one of my bikes.

There are always two sides to a story. All I know is that I have had nothing but stellar customer service for bike, and non-bike, equipment at REI. I would sure like to hear the manager’s side.

Now return the bike to REI and ask if they can help you with the hanger issue.

Go
 

This x100. OP is still within the timeframe in which he can simply return the bike (broken or not) and say, "I don't like it and want my money back" -- and they will cheerfully issue a refund in about 30 seconds, even without a receipt -- even though the OP likely broke the derailleur hanger, since they don't spontaneously break.

I really can't understand why the OP hasn't simply GONE BACK TO THE SHOP THAT SOLD HIM THE BIKE. And as an REI member for longer than I can recall (at least 35 years), the complaining about their CS is grating. It's one of the few remaining large operations that really goes out of its way to be customer-friendly.

REI service/
 

as a matter of real life experience I needed a stripped BB rethreaded Italian from English.local bike shop-Assemacher-$200. REI member $25.while I waited.40 +year member & never an issue they couldn't solve.

It sounds like you did everything BUT the one thing that you should have - taken the bike back to REI. You say you "took a stab in the dark and tried ordering a couple of them that were similar" and then "spent a good portion of my day trying to find out from REI who the bicycles manufacturer is", but for some reason you didn't just take the bike in and ask them to replace the hanger? If the bike was less than a month old, they probably had one in stock.

There's nothing wrong with REI bicycles, or their service. And derailleur hangers don't shatter. Your story is bogus and a transparent attempt at trolling.

.
...I have never owned and ridden one, but looking at them in the REI store near me, the REI branded bikes they have for sale always looked like reasonable products, for what they charge for them. Thank you for this timely warning, or I might have stumbled in there during the off season sales of bikes and done something stupid.

Just gotta know how long was he in the place to begin with? 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours? Multiple salespeople and no decision troubles me in that the amount of time being used for a simple decision may have been excessive. Or is it inexperienced sales help that did not know or understand how to direct a customer to a decision within a reasonable time frame?

This is also dubious. REI keeps a record on everything I have bought ever since I became a member years ago to buy my first road bike. Any REI customer service representative can look up your order history and find which CO-OP bike you bought, and based on that information the bike service department can order a replacement RD hanger, if it does not already have a spare. Failing that, the return period is a full year; why not just return it and buy another bike from somewhere else?

The service at REI was exceptional when I bought my first road bike there. On the busy last day of the 2017 spring sale, the woman at the bike service department spent nearly an hour measuring me and adjusting two adjacent sizes (54 vs. 56) of the same bike for me to test ride to figure out my ideal size, then told me to order from REI online to get the color that was on sale.

It's the part number for the hanger (not the bike), I suspect.