Okay people...what's missing in this photo? If you answered, 'The important parts of a Shimano 6700 Ultegra rear derailleur', then you get a cookie!
After a really nice ride with MDro tonight, I went banging through a truly rough section of gravel road and, evidently, ran over an IED placed by Campagnolo. The entire rear portion of my drivetrain exploded, and I mean exploded. I've seen less damage to bikes that came off roof racks at highway speeds.
The 8 week old derailleur sheared completely off of the hanger and came apart. MDro and I couldn't even locate the inner cage and the pulleys. Oh, did I mention they were high $ ceramic units? Yeah, I'm going back tomorrow morning, in the light, to see if they can be located.
The SRAM chain was twisted 90 degrees and pulled apart at one of the pins.
Fortunately, the new rear wheel, which was rebuilt after the last incident, seems to be okay, other than having some new character. Shrews will take care of that tomorrow.
Did I mention that MDro walked the end of the ride with me? That's a friend right there!
I have a few options. I can buy a new R/D at the shop, and take a reaming at checkout. I can slap the Singleator on it and run it single speed for a while. I can hit up friends with copious parts bins for a spare, which is fine, but if this failure occurs again, I'm out TWO derailleurs.
I'll probably slap a MTB R/D on it again. I rode the fucking thing for almost 4 years with a XT on it...NO issues.
Hopefully, the shop will be gentle with me in the morning...
2 comments:
May your derailleur rest easy in Shimano heaven. This is how I discovered single speeding In 1996 my derailleur was sheared off by an errant branch 1/2 hour into a 4 hour MTB ride. I confess I threw the old derailleur in the bushes. It was fix or walk! So I cut the chain, put it in middle/middle, and had a great time! Bought my own SS a few months later.
No more road derailleurs on it! I ordered a 2011 XT 10spd R/D and a set of VCRC ceramic pulleys.
I have a Singleator...the thought to go SS on it has crossed my mind.
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