bash guard bent ?

[Koki]

So I just got the Mini Step Thru 2 delivered today.  Noticed that the derailleur bash guard is bent in too much IMO and touching the derailleur.  Is this normal and how it should be ?  Perhaps it got bent in the delivery process. 
Should I attempt to bend it out ?  Pls advise.  Thx.

Pics here...

[RadJohn]

Yes, unfortunately  it's quite common, same with my RM4. It's been happening forever, just another one of those things that Rad obviously doesn't care about.

If you try to bend it back while still mounted on the bike, it might be possible to bend or break something else, and you might find the two mounting surfaces do not go back to being flat against the frame, making it more bendy than it's supposed to be (three guesses how I know this, second two don't count).

I ended up taking mine off and getting it back to its more or less original shape using a vise and various pliers/wrenches but the paint got destroyed in the process.

I ultimately did get Rad to send me a new one along with some other trashed parts. They will probably also want pictures of the damaged shipping carton, as if they'd never seen the problem before.

Don't forget to use a threadlocking compound when putting the guard back on,  something like Loctite 242 (blue), and quickly and thoroughly wipe any excess dribbles off the painted frame.

[pnoeth]

Koki,

I purchased two RAD Mini ST2s. One was received without any damage, the other had the bash guard bent. As with RadJohn, I took the guard off and straightened it using a vise, hammer and eyeball to straighten it. I put it back on and thought the problem was solved. But when I rode the bike I discovered that the derailleur did not shift properly.

I tried to loosen the shift cable but it did not help. Then I discovered the derailleur mounting was bent and the sprockets were out of alignment. With the guard off, I used a 5mm hex socket and a 3/8" breaker bar to coax the derailleur back into alignment. 5mm hex socket was inserted into the derailleur pivot bolt and the breaker bar was used for leverage. BTW, this is a completely inappropriate use of these tools. I could have broken the hex socket and/or damaged the derailleur. The sprockets did come back into better alignment and the bikes has been shifting okay.

The photo shows a straight edge aligned with the frame and the amount the bracket was bent. It didn't take much to mess up the shifting.

   

[Altema]

My RadMini 4 was fine, but I can see this damage happening when a shipper flings the box onto it's side or handles it roughly. Good thing the derailleur mount was there to bend. Beats a bent frame! Rad should put a packing block to protect this spot.

[EchoCharlie]

My Rad Rover 5 also arrived with a bent bash guard. I was a bit annoyed but just muscled back straight again after checking to make sure there was no damage to the derailleur or the hanger bracket.
There were also some small scratches to the black paint on the top tube...I guess that's what free FedEx ground shipping will cost ya... 

[pnoeth]

Kudos to RAD for the way the bike was packed for shipping. They used huge amounts of what I believe to be polyethylene foam to protect the bike. There were big blocks of it to hold everything in place, sheets of it zip-tied in place to protect paint and components, and a sheet of hard plastic attached to the box to protect the derailleur area. Everything was in a heavy triple-wall cardboard shipping box. I don't know about other bikes, but the shipping for the ST2 was well engineered. No telling how hard of a hit it had to take to bend the bash guard and derailleur. I don't know what else they could have done to protect the bike during shipment. I think the shipping materials weighed almost half as much as the bike itself.

The bad news was the disposal of all of that material. The cardboard was easily recycled, but the polyethylene foam ended up the the land fill. I could not find anyone in our area that could recycle it.

[sc00ter]

My wife didn't know the FedEx truck was out front till she heard a loud clank, and looked out to see the driver picking up the Rad box! Luckily there was no damage to the bike, but the box was kinda rough. And yes, the bike was packed pretty good. I also found someone to recycle the padding material.

[Altema]

My FedEx guy was real good. He checked if we were home before unloading, then used a dolly to bring it to the porch. My wife and I slid it into the house, and I don't remember too much after that because I was too excited!

The box is still in my basement will all the packing stuff. It would be nice if there was a program to return the box and all it's packing to Rad. It could be electrostatically sanitized, then they could reuse the good bits and recycle the rest.