I ride an aluminium frame with sliding drop outs and last week clipped a big ‘tuft’ of grass while out bikepacking and bent the rear mech.

On closer inspection the drop out has stayed straight, and the frame bent!

The frame is 6 months old, cost £650 and comes with a 5 year warranty but the UK distributor has said it’s ‘just one of those things’ and that it is not a warranty issue

I’m more of the opinion that the frame is not adequately designed to run a derailleur if the frame bends when a rear mech is damaged.

Thoughts?

Is the hanger the original item?

The whole point of replaceable mech hangers on ally frames is to act as fuses to prevent exactly this sort of thing…

Absolutely, I would ask to see the terms of this said warrenty and maybe even get in touch with the parent company if the UK distributor isn’t playing fair.

Some adjustable dropouts can inherently weaker in certain aspects than solid / std dropouts and the larger sliding plates may be stronger or have more leverage over the frame than a conventional replaceable hanger on a smaller dropout. Depends how it was hit too. So a replaceable hanger of sorts isn’t a guarantee of a saved frame every time – obv I don’t know what bike you have, just a point.

Sales of Goods Act straight up, go back to the place you bought it.

It hasn’t lasted a reasonable length of time and is not fit for purpose.

Brush up on your Sales of Goods Act knowledge and arm yourself with consumer rights, here!

Your contract is initially with the Retailer, they are the one you should go back to and let them deal with the Distributor.

But tbh, these things happen – sometimes in the first week other times in 5 years time.

Best result could be a crash replacement frame.

No it’s NOT a warranty issue, it’s crash damage, that YOU did! 🙄

plyphon – what planet do you live on – you know what a warrenties for right ? manufacturing defects.

drive a car into a wall and try taking it back for warrenty – i see walls when im out driving as regularly as i see tufts of grass on my mtb….

Definitely not warranty . If you take it back to the shop you bought it from and behave decently they may be able to help you with a new frame for reduced cost but if you go in all guns blazing I would expect you to get the bums rush .

Isnt the op trying to say the hanger should have bent / snapped rather than the frame. Maybe the hangers are too strong for the frame?

Odd. pics?

plyphon – what planet do you live on – you know what a warrenties for right ? manufacturing defects.

drive a car into a wall and try taking it back for warrenty – i see walls when im out driving as regularly as i see tufts of grass on my mtb….

A warranty is not the same as returning an item under Sales of Goods Act.

Sales of goods act covers your ass if the product fails when being used within normal product usage scenarios shortly after purchase.

A warranty covers your ass when the product fails due to abuse and/or fatigue.

In this case, if the OP is exaggerating the truth an “the tuft of grass” was actually a rock and the frame is covered in scratches and dents then yes, I would agree – you’re up shit creek there.

But if he’s telling the truth and what happened happened – the frame would be spotless after 6 months riding! That’s still a brand new frame that’s bent – not fit for use.

The car analogy is rubbish. Cars are not designed to be driven into walls. Mountain bikes are designed to be ridden off road over trail obstacles and should be designed accordingly. Henceforth, not fit for purpose.

IMO anyway – i’m about to be told how bikes aren’t designed to be crashed and that i’m an idiot and that I probably support the BNP or something.

Car hitting a wall isn’t really a fair comparison. How about if you hit a pothole and instead of a flat tyre/damaged wheel you had twisted the chassis and wrote off the car?

It depends what way you spin it.

Good old stw sympathy, gotta love this place. 😕
Plyphon hit the nail on the head, the rear mech hanger is there for a reason, that should fail first leaving the feame intact. So, technically, the hanger/dropout has either a design flaw or manufacturing problem.
Take it to where you bought it and get them to check it over, if speaking to them nicely fails flex your consumer rights.

Hope it gets sorted

I din’t think it’s that cut and dried.

It’s not a specific replacable mech hanger, it’s part of a sliding dropout, no? Therefore it’s not necessarily designed as a sacrificial part. And getting a rock or tuft of grass is irrelevant – something has been hit hard enough to bend the mech.

I don’t think a warranty/fit for purpose argument covers accidental damage like this either – if it did, where would the line be drawn? MTBing is inherent with risk of crashing and accidental damage – no bike can be guaranteed to resist that.

I think cynic-al has it – sliding dropouts don’t usually have sacrificial hangers on them – they’re 4mm plate or whatever the same as the rest of the piece.