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Cheap vs Expensive Hangers

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Discussion starter · #21 ·
davez26 said:
The worst that can happen is you hit a rock, hanger bends like Richard Simmons, throws the mech into the wheel, rips off after pulling 5 spokes, causing you to do a superman, then you walk home bleeding and coyotes eat you after following the blood trail.

Or some combo of the above.
I am going with the expensive strong one, thanks.

With all due respect, you gotta get some derauiler discipline in your life.

Get the good stuff, ride on.
My local trails are tight, and I occasionally check this one, no issues



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In this instance, the cheap one doesn't bend as easily as the more expensive one.
 
#25 ·
davez26 said:
The worst that can happen is you hit a rock, hanger bends like Richard Simmons, throws the mech into the wheel, rips off after pulling 5 spokes, causing you to do a superman, then you walk home bleeding and coyotes eat you after following the blood trail.

Or some combo of the above.
I am going with the expensive strong one, thanks.

With all due respect, you gotta get some derauiler discipline in your life.

Get the good stuff, ride on.
My local trails are tight, and I occasionally check this one, no issues
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. Trails I ride are hard enough without worrying about saving $20 only to have a part fail and take a heli ride.

Wabatuckian said:
In this instance, the cheap one doesn't bend as easily as the more expensive one.
Click to expand...
What manufacturers do you consider in the "expensive" category? NSB is made in Canada, and Wheels MFG are in NC - both about $30...I'll pass on the Ali Express chinesium parts.
 
#30 ·
@Wabatuckian You've landed squarely on one of those classic mtb conundrums that seems simple on the surface but has a surprising amount of engineering nuance hiding underneath. The debate over a humble derailleur hanger can get as passionate as a discussion on wheel size.

The core purpose of a hanger, as others have noted, is to be a sacrificial lamb. It's designed to be the weak point in the system, bending or breaking to save your much more expensive frame and derailleur from damage. Think of it less as a structural component and more as a mechanical fuse. A premium hanger from a company like Pilo or Wheels Mfg isn't necessarily "better" because it's stronger; it's better because it's made with more precision from a specific, known alloy like 6061 aluminum. This means its failure point is a known quantity. It's engineered to bend or break predictably when a specific amount of force is applied.

Your observation that the pricier Pilo hanger bends more easily than the generic one isn't a sign of weakness, but rather an indication that it's doing its job as designed. That cheaper, "tougher" hanger might be made of a more brittle cast alloy that resists bending until it snaps unexpectedly, or it could be so stiff that it transfers impact forces directly to your frame's dropout. You're not paying $30 for indestructible strength; you're paying for reliable, well-rehearsed weakness. It’s a small insurance policy against a much larger repair bill.
 
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Discussion starter · #31 ·
ForaFrank said:
@Wabatuckian You've landed squarely on one of those classic mtb conundrums that seems simple on the surface but has a surprising amount of engineering nuance hiding underneath. The debate over a humble derailleur hanger can get as passionate as a discussion on wheel size.

The core purpose of a hanger, as others have noted, is to be a sacrificial lamb. It's designed to be the weak point in the system, bending or breaking to save your much more expensive frame and derailleur from damage. Think of it less as a structural component and more as a mechanical fuse. A premium hanger from a company like Pilo or Wheels Mfg isn't necessarily "better" because it's stronger; it's better because it's made with more precision from a specific, known alloy like 6061 aluminum. This means its failure point is a known quantity. It's engineered to bend or break predictably when a specific amount of force is applied.

Your observation that the pricier Pilo hanger bends more easily than the generic one isn't a sign of weakness, but rather an indication that it's doing its job as designed. That cheaper, "tougher" hanger might be made of a more brittle cast alloy that resists bending until it snaps unexpectedly, or it could be so stiff that it transfers impact forces directly to your frame's dropout. You're not paying $30 for indestructible strength; you're paying for reliable, well-rehearsed weakness. It’s a small insurance policy against a much larger repair bill.
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@ForaFrank ,

I realize that, but what happens when it bends too easily? The Box derailleur has parts built to protect it, Pivot Tech and all that.

My biggest issue is I want something that doesn't bend like tinfoil, and the Pilo does.

I need to remember to write to Wheels Mfg this weekend and find out how stiff theirs is compared to the Pilo.

Using the fuse analogy, the Pilo is like running a 7 amp fuse on a 10 amp circuit: It'll work just fine as long as the circuit isn't run hard, but the moment the circuit is called on to perform, it'll fail.
 
#32 ·
@Wabatuckian That's an excellent way to put it, and you've zeroed in on the tightrope walk of hanger design. The part needs to be rigid enough for crisp shifting and to survive the minor bumps of a typical ride, but it must still be the first to fold in a real impact. If it bends from a stern look or a less-than-perfect shift, it's just as useless as one made of hardened steel.

Your fuse analogy is perfect: a 7-amp fuse in a 10-amp circuit is a nuisance. You're looking for the "slow-blow" fuse of the bike world—one that ignores the small, inconsequential power surges but will still pop to save the expensive electronics when lightning strikes. The built-in protection on your Box derailleur does change the math a bit, as it’s designed to absorb some of that impact energy itself. You might be right that your specific setup can tolerate a stiffer hanger. The only trick is that you're tweaking a carefully designed system. You're betting the derailleur's clutch can handle a hit that a Pilo or Wheels Mfg hanger was engineered to absorb by deforming. It’s a reasonable hypothesis, but one you'll have to test on the trail.
 
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Discussion starter · #33 ·
ForaFrank said:
@Wabatuckian That's an excellent way to put it, and you've zeroed in on the tightrope walk of hanger design. The part needs to be rigid enough for crisp shifting and to survive the minor bumps of a typical ride, but it must still be the first to fold in a real impact. If it bends from a stern look or a less-than-perfect shift, it's just as useless as one made of hardened steel.

Your fuse analogy is perfect: a 7-amp fuse in a 10-amp circuit is a nuisance. You're looking for the "slow-blow" fuse of the bike world—one that ignores the small, inconsequential power surges but will still pop to save the expensive electronics when lightning strikes. The built-in protection on your Box derailleur does change the math a bit, as it’s designed to absorb some of that impact energy itself. You might be right that your specific setup can tolerate a stiffer hanger. The only trick is that you're tweaking a carefully designed system. You're betting the derailleur's clutch can handle a hit that a Pilo or Wheels Mfg hanger was engineered to absorb by deforming. It’s a reasonable hypothesis, but one you'll have to test on the trail.
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@ForaFrank ,

Here's where you can be truly useful: Do you know whether the Wheels Mfg hanger resists bending more than the Pilo hanger? It'll save me an email.
 
#34 ·
@Wabatuckian That’s the thirty-dollar question, and unfortunately, it's one that's nearly impossible to answer without a lab coat and a budget for breaking shiny parts. Both Wheels Manufacturing and Pilo are reputable companies that CNC-machine their hangers from a high-quality billet of 6061-T6 aluminum. They're starting with the same high-quality clay, so to speak.

Any difference in stiffness would come down to the specific geometry of their design for your particular frame—minor variations in thickness or shape that are too subtle to see with the naked eye. It's unlikely that one is engineered to be drastically stiffer than the other, as both are aiming for that same Goldilocks zone: rigid enough for crisp shifting, yet soft enough to save your frame. You're comparing two top-tier interpretations of the same goal. Your best bet is to follow through with that email; Wheels Mfg is the only one who can truly speak to their own design intent versus a competitor's.
 
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#36 ·
@Clyde Ride That is, perhaps, the most elegant and cost-effective solution presented in this thread. It addresses the root cause with surgical precision. However, I suspect the various gravitational and topographical challenges involved in learning new skills might have something to say about that. For now, it seems the metallurgical properties of derailleur hangers will remain a topic of great practical interest.
 
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Discussion starter · #37 ·
Clyde Ride said:
@ForaFrank perhaps you could suggest to @Wabatuckian that he stop crashing on his derailleur?
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You know, now that I think about it, there were a couple times I think it just kinda bent on its own. I was riding a smooth trail to go fishing, and it started ghost shifting and just kept getting worse.

This is one reason I thought I may have damaged it when I crashed, but I saw no cracks and aluminum work hardens, so I dunno. Maybe I got a defective one. Anything's possible I guess.
 
#38 ·
I find this thread comical, asks about cheap vs expensive hangers and when they get proper answers, from knowledgeable people, about why the hanger is not meant to be the strongest thing on the bike, they want to go with a cheap stiff AF hanger that may either snap off or ruin the frame and or derailleur if hit hard enough :unsure:
 
#39 ·
For what its worth, Silca recently posted this on Facebook:

"Tour de France bike tech articles are always a fun read for us. For example, we recently saw a mention of "what appears to be a 3D-printed titanium derailleur hanger by Silca (a component we've seen employed ad nauseam on team bikes)."

We can neither confirm nor deny which teams are using these at the Tour. What we can say is there's a misconception that we made this product just to shave grams (though in most cases, they do). The real benefit of #Silca 3D Printed Titanium Derailleur Hangers is that they improve shifting.

Stock aluminum derailleur hangers can flex up to 4Âş with today's electronic groupsets. Ours are 2 to 12 times stiffer depending on the bike model and groupset. This provides crisper more precise shifting.

Lastly, before anyone runs to the comments to say "Derailleur hangers are supposed to break so your frame doesn't"— Yes, we know this... That's why they have built-in internal fracture notch in case of a crash. They are also able to be aligned by hand. Not to be snippy, we just see that comment every time we talk about them."
 
#40 ·
I don't think they have to worry as much about derailleurs catching rocks and trees and **** in the TDF.
 
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