Derailleur failure sram force 22

You can either 'shift' the rear mech cage into the spokes or one of the parts of the body can fail allowing the same thing to happen. It's virtually impossible to tell how it happened after a crash as the damage to the mech will be so severe.

What you can see though is how far in/out the L/H screws are and that will tell you if it was likely incorrectly set gearing. In fact you could check it by measuring how many full turns 'out' the adjustment screws were. Compare this number with a 'known god' value from the same model of bike and there is your ammunition.

Are the rear DRs seizing, somehow? That's the only thing I can think of that would cause the DR to be dragged around. A few years ago I rode over a plastic bag, seized the chain and tore the rear derailleur off and around past the cassette - these sound like similar failures. Shifting the chain off the inside of the cassette would cause its own problems, but that isn't something that would tear the DR off.

shocking lack of customer service from Focus - I certainly won't be touching/considering any of their bikes in future. I'm sure other people will feel similarly, so it will certainly cost them more in lost future sales than honouring their warranty on this bike.

Hope you get some resolution soon, and don't hesitate to spread the word further on social media.

Just read about the gear failure. Last year, July, I was out on my bike in Northumberland, coming out of a village tried to change gear then my rear mech, shimano 105 sheared off, into my back wheel so I came to a sudden stop. Had to be rescued as chain was damaged and I couldnt effect a temporary repair to get home. Luckily, just paint damage. I've heard locally of a number of people having the rear mechs shear off,I'm getting paranoid now, will it happen again? I have to say the rear mech was hardly used, wonder if substandard materials are being used. When I looked at mine, seemed to be a hole in the mech. I was starting to wonder if it was my fault, reading about the Focus I think not.

I felt compelled to respond to this thread having had a similar experience....

In March 2013 I bought a new Focus Pro Izalco 3 with SRAM Force from my LBS in London. It was all going well for the first 4 months and then whilst out on a training ride I was up out of my seat going up a short ascent - I changed gear and...crumble...the rear mech sheered off. I had to ride the 35km home as a single speed...

Anyway I took it back to the shop where I purchased and explained what had happened. They asked if it had been crashed or dropped (it hadn't) and had a look over it all saying they would raise it with Focus in Germany. I was told that Focus had a failure rate of about 1.5-2% and that unfortunately it appeared i was one of the unlucky ones.

Whilst I wasn't privy to the conversations, from what I can gather the shop TOLD focus that they would be treating it as a mechanical failure which they said they would expect to be covered under the warranty. Sure enough I got a replacement free of charge.

I understand what you're saying about not wanting to leave your LBS in the sh*t and as I see it you have a couple of options:
1) Return the bike to the shop with proof of purchase requesting a refund as a faulty item under the Sales of Goods Act and request either a refund or repair at their cost (which sounds like would almost be a replacement). It would then be up to the shop to challenge Focus to reimburse them.
2) Try to get in touch with Focus yourself on the phone and follow it up in an email - although based in Germany they all speak very good English
3) Get your LBS to speak to Focus. I understand that Focus are quite specific about which shops carry their bikes and those stores that have a good turnover of focus bikes might carry a bit more weight in negotiating you a good deal.

Hope this helps.

PS my replacement bike has not had any similar problems...!

Did you oil the chain before using it btw?

Did you take any HD pictures?

The bike shop should replace the bike, it's under 6 months old, you bought the bike from them, the bike was probably faulty when you bought it. You shouldn't be reliant on the manufacturer the shop should issue a new bike then deal with the manufacturer themselves.

If you purchased it from the shop (and they set it up) then I believe they have to honour the warranty, not the manufacturer.

Maybe a bit of googling of the sale of goods act and advice from trading standards is in order?

Get the bike shop to check the cranks and bb were fitted properly.
I bought the same bike in October and had a number of gearing/chain problems to start with; when I took it back to the shop it turned out that they factory hadn't fitted the right SRAM spacers meaning the crank was coming loose and pushing the chain out of alignment. Although I got lucky and suffered no real damage, my LBS reported the issue to Focus who confirmed that there was a training issue at the factory.

My Campag Veloce derailleur did exactly the same last week in Flanders. I imagine its way more common than people realise. And ruddy expensive to put right

Had the same problem with a Felt AR2. It was 10 days old. I think it was a problem with the chain that caused it. Saddleback who are Felt's people over here were terrible and refused to replace anything and tried to blame me. It came down to the LBS to replace the rear derailleur but nothing else. The frame got chipped and I have had to live with it. Keep fighting to get what you paid for and use the internet to make your point. Twitter and the like are a great way to spread the word. Good luck.