I need some serious help! (Problem after trainer fall.)
 

I am relatively new to cycling and have no mechanical experience, so please excuse my horrible terminology. Feel free to insult me all you want for being a total newb/Fred, as I deserve it.

So, I have no idea how, but upon clipping in, the bike, myself, and trainer all fell to the left (side without the RD, etc.).

The first thing I noticed was the chain was off the chainring (to the inside). No big deal, I put it back on and try to pedal; nothing, I can't move it.

Upon closer inspection, the chain wasn't going through the two gears on the rear derailleur properly. I got it so I could pedal but my back wheel was all out of alignment.

I opened up the brake pads and tried pedaling again; the rear wheel kept rubbing up against the right brake pad (horribly, as in burning rubber horribly).

So I pop the rear wheel off and go to put it back on and again, it is all out of alignment, and I cannot get it straight, for the life of me. Then the chain problem is back.

Well this is where I am now. When I pedal backwards I lose all tension in the chain (which I have been able to fix on two occasions, but I figured the most symptoms, the more likely I will get an appropriate diagnosis), I cannot get the rear wheel aligned and when I loosen the skewer it falls immediately as far as the chain will allow it (it's in a stand), and finally pedaling is still a *****.

I have included a few pictures to help. When I fall is it possible I knocked the rear derailleur out of position? If so, how do I fix it? Thank you!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8743.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8744.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8745.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8746.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8747.jpg
Skewer loosened.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...c/IMG_8748.jpg
How is looks when I loosen the skewer.

Take it to a shop.

If it fell to the left and onto the cassette, you were riding it backwards. Turn around and try again.

But seriously, you probably knocked the rear wheel all out of true and also bent the rear derailleur hanger.

Take a picture of the derailleur from the back, along the line of the chainstay (frame part that's back there running parallel to the ground).

Take it to your LBS and have them look at it. If I'm correct, it'll be $15 to true the wheel, and $10 to fix the hanger. That's probably about it.

Yeah, that's typically what I would do, but I am going out of town tomorrow and needed the bike. I guess worst case scenario I can postpone my trip.

What he said.
Ask if you can watch them fix it and you'll learn a little something. After a while you'll get the hang of it. Oh, and if you LBS doesn't allow you to watch the mechanic, then switch shops and give your money to one that isn't manned by a bunch of pr*cks.

Yes, I realized I wrote that wrong, I'm exhausted. I edited the original post.

More pictures to come.

Ok, I am going to try to help. First of all you need to put the cassette on the smallest gear and the front chainrings on the inner ring. You will have to shift the brifters down to these spots and may have to help it into the gears. This will give you the maximum amount of slack in the chain to make it easier to work.

Next take the bike out of the stand and put it on the ground, push down on the back of the bike and this will naturally center the rear wheel in the drop outs. Then tighten the rear skewer, make sure to hold the bike down against the ground so it does not move in drop outs. After this you may you to center the brakes which is done by simply pushing them to one side or the other as needed.

I am concerned that the rear derailleur hanger could be bent but this may be an optical illusion from the picture. The good news is the Soloist Team has a replacable one so if it is it is not that big of a deal.

Please let me know if this works.

Ummm.... just looks like the wheel popped out of the dropouts. Loosen the skewer, slide it back up into the dropouts and tightener up.

Could be wrong though. You should probably just take it to a shop.

Hanger looks slightly bent in that picture. But not nearly enough to mess anything up. It might shift slightly rougher but it would still run. Mine is bent about that much, I'm going to wait until I bend it more to have it fixed. It still shifts almost perfectly.

:lol::lol::lol:

Rear deraillerus is bent and the rear brake assembly is pushed over. Need to loosen the rear brake holding nut (where it goes thru the frame) move the brake and retighten.

The rear derailleur needs to bent back over, but let a shop do it.

Update: I gave it another go, after pushing the RD ever slightly out. I no longer have any pedaling problems, but the wheel is crazy out of true and the RD now needs some adjustment. I will take it to a shop on my lunch break tomorrow.

Thank you, all.

Let us know tomorrow how you made out. Otherwise the suspense will be killing us! :D

You said you fell off the trainer to the non-drive side. If that's the case, I'm seriously doubtful that a bent derailleur hanger is your problem.

Have you shifted through all the gears since you fell off? If you bumped the brifter and dumped a bunch of gears at the shifter, but the wheel wasn't turning as you laid on your side on the ground, the drivetrain can get jammed up.

Check if you bent the wheel out of true during the fall. Take the rear wheel off the bike, hold it in your hands and spin it. Is it wobbly (laterally) or hopping (radially)?

If the wheel is not drastically out of true, I'm guessing you knocked the rear brake out of alignment at some point in the falling/extricating-yourself-from-the-bike-while-on-the-floor process. Grab the brake firmly and put it back centered where it should be. You may need to loosen the bolt if it's nice and tight.

Mac

but you have a stand? ufa

And next time clamp the trainer to the skewer, and not to the knob on the derailleur.

Wow, so fragile! Sorry to hear you're having problems after your fall. I guess I've been lucky. I flipped over the handlebars twice, and was able to pick the bike back up and rode away. The only part that got really messed up were my brifters (the nice shiny 105 logo is cracked and gone). And it got bent a little....but that was easy to bend back in shape.

Did you fall really hard? It's hard to imagine a 0 mph crash would cause so much damage!

Let us know how it went at the shop.

Some people use the stand as a bike rack :) What does "ufa" stand for?

I got it as a gift a week ago and I have just begun reading about bike repair/maintenance.

Are you positive your wheel is out of true? If you spin it while holding the axle ends, does it wobble rhythmically?

I think your problem is (as a couple others have suggested) that your wheel's axle is not fully seated in the dropouts. I never install a wheel in the work stand. Do it on the ground where gravity will help you get the axles all the way into the dropouts. With the rear skewer open, put a bunch of pressure on the saddle to seat everything.

I could be wrong, but I don't see how falling over is going to knock your wheel out of true, especially if it's protected by the trainer.

Here's a video I made a while back that shows rear wheel installation (notice the rear der is all the way to the right, in the smallest cog):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxHXreuOLFM

Rear wheel knocked out a true, and bent RD hanger.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Just curious, how dis you fall?

You flipped over the handlebars while on the trainer? :roflmao2:

Please tell me I can see that on YouTube!!!???

Oh dang, I guess not since you "rode away". :)

Maybe you can volunteer to do it for the benefit of the rest of us. Just think, this could be your 15 minutes of fame! :bike2: