Out riding last night and got a stick about 12″ long and 1″ diameter jammed between the rear mech and back wheel. It was really stuck fast and was a real effort to remove. Riding away after removal it was immediately apparent that the shifting had completely gone to pot. The cable seemed to have loosened, so I tightened that up and then fiddled around with the settings and got it working better. But no matter what I couldn’t get it to shift on to the biggest ring at the back any more.

I realise that without seeing it its very difficult to help, but in others’ experience does this sound like a bent mech, and has anyone had any success straightening them. Its a 2 week old XT clutch mech by the f***ing way 😥

Hard to diagnose at it could be a bent mech, cable not adjusted properly or a few other things. Its quite likely to be a bent mech hanger though so you could get a LBS to check or you could just order a new one as a spare is good to have. lots of sites stock them but http://gearmechhanger.com/ has a good range.

Is anything bent?

as above it’s more than likely a bent hanger or bent mech cage, or both. best way to check is spin the bike upside down and check the chain line. Sometimes you can straighten them ok other times not. It’s happened to me loads of times over the years.

Didn’t look like the mech cage was bent. Didn’t think to check the hanger. They are soft as cheese so could well be that. I’ve already got a spare as I’ve had a run of breaking them lately. Thanks, I’ll check that when I get home, and also have a good look at the chainline. Also I think I’ll remove the chain and see if the high and low position of the mech/jockey wheels is the same as when I set it up.

my guess would be you have bent the mech hangar, possibly the mech itself.
you have then tried to compensate for the damage by adjusting the cable, which hasnt totally worked and you will never get the shifting right when something is bent, so when you straighen/replace the hangar you will need to reverse what you did there too.

I bent both mech and hanger recently. You couldn’t really see any bend but they were both knackered.

Totally my own fault for cutting chain a link too short as well. #hamfisted

Make sure chain still runs freely over top jockey and hasn’t popped over the guide.

A tiny branch got stuck in mine last week and completely ripped the plastic body apart. Annoying as its pretty new and otherwise unmarked. The only positive I can take is that I have used the jockey wheels to replace the badly worn ones on another mech therefore saving me £35. Didn’t sting any less at coughing up £95 for a new one though.

[/url] by andysredmini, on Flickr[/img]

Thanks all. I’ve had bent mech cages before but its actually quite difficult to see. My guess now is a bit of both, bent cage and hanger. I’ve got a spare hanger, and a spare cage from an older non-clutch mech derailleur. Hopefully one or both of these will fix it. Cheers all.