I started riding a full sus (orange 5 – always had hardtails before) in November and yesterday bent my rear derailleur for the second time!!! It has happened both times at Whinlatter on the same bit of trail – the end of the north loop where there is fast decent towards the carpark – I have noticed it in the carpark or as I have gone onto the start of the blue. Last time I got parts off an old derailleur and bent it all back and it worked fine – this time not sure if that will work!!

I do ride the down hill hard (lean the bike over and hit small jumps etc) but not sure if this is the cause??? If this is the way I ride then would I need to switch to 2 chinrings at the front and a short arm mech at the back?? is that why all mountain/downhill bikes have that set up? I very rarely use the 3rd ring but do do XC riding quite a lot!

When I ride XC – not in trail centres I have not had a problem as I ride much slower!!

Not sure what to do – invest in a new rear mech and fingers crossed it doesnt happen again or save up and switch to two rings at the front???

Any advice much appreciated!

Just a thought – is your chain long enough?

Fair amount of chain-growth on a 5, take the shock out, put the bike in a typical DH (for you) gear, maybe err on the side of bigger-and-bigger cogs, then compress the suspension. Is it pulling the mech to bits?

(you could just let all the air out and compress, but you'll find it hard to bottom the shock still cos of the bottom out bumper)

shadow rear mech time??

If the mech is hitting something then it's your riding at fault not the bike.

This being the case. You can get away with a med cage mech on a triple set up. Or switch to a 36/24 double and bash chainset and med cage rear mech. If you're Shimano then consider a Shadow rear mech.

Worth checking the chain length too.