No idea how but I have. I was getting a clicky noise when on the third or fourth cog and could not work out why. Close inspection revealed that the third cog was bent outwards. Must have come from a rock in the Lakes. Thankfully a drift pin and a bit of mallet action seems to have restored it to trueness. Am I unusual or has this happened to anyone else?

Dogsby

Nope- someone was bemoaning Sram recently because of a similar problem.

I bent the 4 cog from the bottom on a sram 980 cassete earlier this year. Lbs reckoned it was due to “changing gear under load”. It was straightened back in a vice and has been fine ever since.

Makes you wonder though.

Had it happen once on an XT cassette, it was an older type that had a 4 arm spider, that same year they upgraded them to a 5 arm (less space between supports for bending to happen). Never had it happen before or since – just unlucky I’d say.

IIRC 32t always had 4 arms and 34t had 5 arms.

It is a five arm cassette. The bending under load theory kind of makes sense as there was no other damage that would suggest an impact. Clearly too much time in the big ring!

Dogsby