Tools needed 5 mm allen.
Bent rear derailleur hanger symptoms.
The rear derailleur is attached to the frame with a hanger.
Once bent the derailleurs and pulleys are not going to align with the sprockets.
Crashing or throwing the bike down on the right side can bend this hanger.
The derailleur hanger is the piece of metal that the rear derailleur attaches to near the rear axle.
If your rear derailleur is shifting poorly not staying in gear and appears to be bent or out of alignment check first whether the derailleur hanger is bent.
Problems caused by bent derailleur hanger chain damage.
Bent rear derailleur hanger symptoms so in all my infinite bike handling wisdom i may or may not have fallen going what i thought was slowly around a turn in a parking lot on some paint.
But a typical symptom of a misaligned hanger is the rear derailleur will shift fine for a few gears only to lose adjustment while shifting further up or down the cassette.
The problem with the crescent wrench is that you just need to be careful that you tighten the wrench down tight on the hanger and make sure that the jaws of the wrench extend past the mounting hole for the derailleur.
Another less accurate option is to use a crescent wrench to straighten the bent hanger.
If you continue riding with a bent derailleur no matter how good you try to adjust it eventually the chain will get stuck somewhere.
On most bikes this is a replaceable piece of aluminum which is designed to bend or break when stressed rather than causing costly damage to your frame.
The derailleur hanger is the mounting point for your rear derailleur and almost all are designed to be sacrificial parts that will bend or snap in a crash or sometimes even if your bike just.
These are commonly aluminum but may also be steel.