Ok I did something stupid today. When I went to lock my door today when leaving for work I dropped my bike. This screwed up my rear derailer some how. I have 3 rings in the front and 9 speed in the back and when I am on the middle front ring it wont stay on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th from the top on the rear. It jumps around and makes a wierd noise when its on these rings. I have never adjusted a rear derailer ever in 12 years of riding I've been lucky enough to have things never go out of whack. I would rather do this myself, if any of you can give me any tips I would appreciate it. I'm pretty tech savy and think I could do it but it wouldn't hurt to get some tips before tackling it. I dont think its bent because I checked the hanger and everything seems true.
I 2nd the ? about the derailleur hanger alignment. Any time you drop a bike on the drive side it's very easy to knock this out of alignment. Here's another Park page to give you an idea what's going on with this:
A lot of people question the wisdom of spending money on special bike tools, but bent and misaligned derailleur hangers are so common that the Park DAG-1, or similar tools made by Campy, Cyclus, or VAR, are well worth the $50, or so, that they cost. They give you proper leverage to easily bend the hanger back where it should be and you can do a very accurate correction in just a couple of minutes. Anyone who thinks they can do an accurate fix without one of these tools is just kidding themselves.
