I got a Norco Scene 3 secondhand a month ago, and have been riding it consistently. While downshifting to the lowest gear on an uphill climb, the rear wheel suddenly locked up and wouldn’t move.

I checked it out and the derailleur was twisted. The hanger seems to be intact, but a cyclist nearby told me that it’s lost all tension. I took it to a mechanic but he said he didn’t want to twist it back in case it broke. I took the chain off the cassette to roll it. I’m looking to replace the part.

The rear derailleur is a Shimano Tourney TY-500 (7 speed). The shifter & cables seem to be intact because they click when I press them. And, I can drag the bike on gear 7, but if I shift to a different gear it locks up and doesn’t roll.

  1. Is only the derailleur broken or could something else also be an issue?

  2. Should I get the same derailleur or is there a better one (with minimum surgery on the bike)?

  3. What could have caused this to happen? Can servicing prevent this sort of fault in the future?

(Perth, AU based)

Rear Derailleur Failure
byu/One-Monitor9682 inbikewrench



by One-Monitor9682

1 Comment

  1. CowardAndAThief on

    If you were shifting to the lowest gear, it could be the derailleur came too close to the spokes and caught in them, I see this a LOT with poorly adjusted derailleurs. If the derailleur hanger is unbroken and no spokes seem damaged, you can just replace the derailleur itself.

Leave A Reply