[djcornbread]

bent my #2 gear up front, not a bad bend, maybe 3/16s of an inch or so towards the #1 gear. will the bike gods cry if i just take it off and hammer it back out? is this an immediate replacement kinda problem?

 

[Call_me_Clyde]

better idea

Leave the ring on. Take an adjustable wrench ( plyers might even work) and slip it over the ring where it's bent. Adjust the wrench until it's loosely closed over the ring. Bend gently back in shape. It's a ghetto fix, but it should work. Others may have a better method, so hang out and wait for a few more replies.

 

[Squash]

Clyde's got it....

hammering usually does more harm than good, bent shift ramps, damaged shift pins etc. And the bend doesn't really sound bad enough for the hammer method. The only thing I would suggest is that you take into consideration the material the ring is made of. If it's steel there'll be no real hurry to replace it as steel "work hardens" when you bend it. I.e. it gets harder as it is worked up to a point. If the ring is aluminum I would condsider replacing it soon as alu does just the oposite, it gets softer as you work it. So an aluminum ring would likely bend again at the same spot at some point in time. Another thing to consider is why did it bend? If you bashed it into something then okay, but if it bent under shifting or for some mechanical reason you may want to look at the cause. Bending it back is only a temporary fix in that case as the mechanical condition that caused the bend is likely still there. If it was a botched shift then of course the user needs to be adjusted.

Good Dirt

 

[djcornbread]

Another thing to consider is why did it bend? If you bashed it into something then okay, but if it bent under shifting or for some mechanical reason you may want to look at the cause. Bending it back is only a temporary fix in that case as the mechanical condition that caused the bend is likely still there. If it was a botched shift then of course the user needs to be adjusted.

Good Dirt

caught! it was indeed during shifting while climbing with my 275 pound clyde self. im still new, and i knew i shouldnt have done it but eh.. was trying to keep up and couldnt stall or i'd have had to hike-a-bike

i was thinking of placing the single gear between two flat pieces of either wood or metal, whichever i can find, then using a rubber mallet to sandwhich it back flat. good idea or bad idea?

 

[Diomedes]

caught! it was indeed during shifting while climbing with my 275 pound clyde self. im still new, and i knew i shouldnt have done it but eh.. was trying to keep up and couldnt stall or i'd have had to hike-a-bike

i was thinking of placing the single gear between two flat pieces of either wood or metal, whichever i can find, then using a rubber mallet to sandwhich it back flat. good idea or bad idea?

I'd say good idea. At least it worked for my pos FSA crank when I bent the middle chainring. Just pulled the middle ring, got a hammer, and beat it back straight on my dorm room floor. Tested it repeatedly by setting it on a table and looking to see where the bend was. Got it straight after a few tries and put it back on. Its been fine since (well, it still chainsucks pretty bad from time to time, but it did that pretty much from the time it was new). Oh, and I also got out a rattail file and took off some burrs from the teeth.
My thinking on broken/bent parts is that almost anything is worth trying if it has a chance success.

 

[turbodog]

3/16" is not enough to cause major permanent damage or large weak point. Go ahead and bend it back. You could also try a bench vise and an adjustable wrench, or simply a large screwdriver if you can find a good point to leverage against.

 

[djcornbread]

upon removing and careful inspection i was able to better see the problem. the teeth did have said damage, and i was able to repair them, though not as I'd said I would. the sprocket in mind had a warp pattern to the material, so it would not lay perfectly flat, thus making "hammering it out" not quite a good idea. after much tooling I managed to straighten it, reattach it, and went on a very successful ride this afternoon.

thank you all so very much!

/endthread