Mechanic's Corner: How to fix a broken front XTR derailleur

During my last race up in Canada, I managed to break my trusty XTR front derailleur. The front arm snapped off where the cage pivots. I still had two solid weeks of riding ahead of me, so I needed to do something. When I got back to my folks place, my dad and I went into the trusty garage and came up with a plan to fix it.

Here’s what we did.

1. Found a small ¼” x ½” 1/16 piece of flat metal.
2. Bent it into an “L” shape bracket and ground off the edges.
3. Clamped it into place on the inside of the broken derailleur.
4. Drilled two ¼” holes on each side of the derailleur and bracket.
5. Riveted the derailleur face and back-side.to stabilize the cage.
6. Ensured the bracket cleared the pivots and frame.

Voila!

I was a little concerned about the rivet on the inside face because I thought it would affect the chain when moving up to the bigger rings. After a quick test ride however, I could tell the chain could still hop from ring to ring just fine.

Anyhow, this little fix proved to get me through two weeks of riding just fine, and I’m actually thinking about just racing it as is. It’s works perfectly and seems stronger now than it was before.

So before you throw down $250 to replace that broken derailleur, don’t be afraid to give this a try.

AL
http://www.donsbikesraceteam.com/