Checking your Rear Derailleur after Unpacking your Bike from Travel Case

Symptoms

Rear derailleur is bent toward the spokes.

Causes

Bicycle packed wrong, TSA looking through a suitcase, and more.

Solutions

Checking the brakes and quick releases after unfolding or unpacking your Bike Friday has no doubt become routine, but have you taken a look at your rear derailleur lately? The arm with the lower pulley keeps tension on your chain, but is vulnerable to outside forces.

Line up behind your Bike Friday and sight in behind the arm of the rear derailleur. Is that arm more or less perpendicular to the ground when the bike is upright? Does it lean in towards the spokes? If so, when you shift into the lowest gear, the derailleur arm can stick in the spokes like, well, ah, you know, a stick in the spokes.

That would be the extreme situation and most bicycles operate fine with the rear derailleur listing a little to one side or the other. Follow this link to see a video of what we are talking about and how to use the set screws on rear derailleur.

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