[JonathanGennick]

Has anyone ever installed one of those emergency hangers from derailleurhanger.com? If so, how'd the install go?

Using the hanger would mean the derailleur gets moved outwards by the width of the hanger. I'm wondering whether the limit screw's range would be enough to compensate for that extra distance.

Hmmm... I suppose if the limit screw were not enough, that cable tension could be added.

I just bought one to carry, for just in case. Maybe I'll do a dry run w/it.

 

[the-one1]

Excuse my ignorance but why would you order that when you could have ordered the correct one in the first place?

 

[shiggy]

Excuse my ignorance but why would you order that when you could have ordered the correct one in the first place?

For emergencies!
They are designed to be used with most frames and work well enough to let you ride out. One can be used to cover an entire group ride.

Not for long term use. JG, you do what you need to do, even if it is just remembering not to sift too far.

 

[JonathanGennick]

What Shiggy said. I ride with others fairly often. Plus, I have multiple bikes. I can drop one emergency hanger in my pack and not need to worry about which bike I happen to grab. That's my thinking anyway.

 

[markom]

I was thinking of getting a "Singulator" or similar chain tensioner for really epic rides in case of derailleur failure. It would weigh only about half of derailleur weight and would more compatible with full suspension bikes and gearing systems (Shimano, Sram, 8,9,10 speeds etc). Any experiences with this?

Shortening chain to create singlespeed from full suspension bike has been hit and miss on last two occasions when it was needed.

 

[osmarandsara]

Has I just bought one to carry, for just in case. Maybe I'll do a dry run w/it.

Yes....plz install it and let us know how it works......thnks

 

[mtnbiker72]

I haven't, but I had a friend break his 5 miles into a 30 mile ride. He didn't have the correct hanger, but we used a different hanger that we just clamped with the skewer onto the drop out and he finished the ride with no issues. So I know the concept works.

 

[shiggy]

I was thinking of getting a "Singulator" or similar chain tensioner for really epic rides in case of derailleur failure. It would weigh only about half of derailleur weight and would more compatible with full suspension bikes and gearing systems (Shimano, Sram, 8,9,10 speeds etc). Any experiences with this?

Shortening chain to create singlespeed from full suspension bike has been hit and miss on last two occasions when it was needed.

Just carry a spare RD if you are worried about it. The single pulley tensioners do not work very well with suspension travel.

And you still need a spare hanger.

 

[donkeykong0]

how do i figure out what kind of spare hanger i need?

 

[mitzikatzi]

how do i figure out what kind of spare hanger i need?

Look here DERAILLEURHANGER.COM then compare the look/shape of the hanger suggested with the current one on your bike

 

[JonathanGennick]

The test! (photo heavy)

It's a cold and dreary day, and I'm on call w/the ambulance service, so it seemed like the perfect morning to have a go at installing the emergency hanger in the comfort of my basement. It works! I can vouch for that.

The practice run was well worth my time. Being broken down on the trail and being feasted upon by mosquitos is a lousy time to learn new skills. Simple tasks at home become surprisingly difficult when one is under pressure and being chewed up by bugs.

I began with a 2007 (I think) Rockhopper frame running a non-Shadow, XT derailleur and an eight-speed drivetrain:



I pretended that my hanger was broken to the point where I was forced to remove it. I'm glad I did this, because it led to complications. However, if you do not remove the old hanger, then you may not have enough extra skewer to safely accommodate the width of the emergency hanger. In my case, the space I gained by removing the old hanger is what gave me the skewer-length to add in the emergency hanger.



What I did not anticipate is that removing the old hanger resulted in the smallest cassette cog being too close to the chainstay. The small cog was unusable. The following photo shows the problem from one vantage point:



And this next photo shows clearly how the removal of the original hanger allows the hub bolt to sit in the freed up space, thus moving the cassette too close to the chainstay. I could not physically rotate the pedals with the chain in place -- at least not without gouging and damaging the frame. I actually tried fairly hard. With the chain on that small cog, things were jammed up pretty good.



To solve the problem, I gave up my high gear. The high-limit screw gave me just enough adjustment that I was able to configure the derailleur not to drop into the small cog.

The next photo illustrates another issue. Look at how the derailleur is rotated forward and jammed up against the chainstay:



I was not able to prevent this forward rotation. IMHO, just live with it. We're installing an emergency hanger, after all.

Surprisingly, I did not need to adjust the low-limit screw. I also ran into the sort of shifting trouble that you would encounter from a bent hanger. So I threw on the hanger alignment gauge. This next photo shows how bad off the alignment was (thru no fault of the hanger):



The hanger itself is perfectly flat. The problem is that Specialized did not design the outside of the dropout to serve as an alignment surface. Clearly on this particular bike I was not going to get perfection in shifting.

I did get pretty good results though -- good enough that I would probably finish a ride. There were a couple of spots on the cassette where a click of the shifter would not cause a shift, and a couple of spots where I'd get a double-shift, but things worked well enough that I would probably finish a ride. At the very least, I'd be able to walk back home.

Hmmm....I guess another lesson-learned here is that the emergency hanger might not help if you just have a slight bend in your original hanger. If the original hanger is still usable, you probably are just as well off in sticking with it.

So it was an interesting experiment. I'm definitely better prepared now should I ever need to use the emergency hanger on the trail. It's going into my pack, for sure.

EDIT: I had to pull slack from the shifter cable after bolting the derailleur onto the emergency hanger and adjusting the high limit. It probably goes without saying that one should be comfortable in shifter- and derailleur-adjustment before attempting to install an emergency hanger.

One last Edit: I should have, but did not, take the bike outside and actually ride it. Sorry. Didn't think of doing that until after I had put the old hanger back on.

 

[shiggy]

It's a cold and dreary day, and I'm on call w/the ambulance service, so it seemed like the perfect morning to have a go at installing the emergency hanger in the comfort of my basement. It works! I can vouch for that.

The practice run was well worth my time. Being broken down on the trail and being feasted upon my mosquitos is a lousy time to learn new skills. Simple tasks at home become surprisingly difficult when one is under pressure and being chewed up by bugs.

I began with a 2007 (I think) Rockhopper frame running a non-Shadow, XT derailleur and an eight-speed drivetrain:

View attachment 620945

I pretended that my hanger was broken to the point where I was forced to remove it. I'm glad I did this, because it led to complications. However, if you do not remove the old hanger, then you may not have enough extra skewer to safely accommodate the width of the emergency hanger. In my case, the space I gained by removing the old hanger is what gave me the skewer-length to add in the emergency hanger.

View attachment 620946

What I did not anticipate is that removing the old hanger resulted in the smallest cassette cog being too close to the chainstay. The small cog was unusable. The following photo shows the problem from one vantage point:

View attachment 620947

And this next photo shows clearly how the removal of the original hanger allows the hub bolt to sit in the freed up space, thus moving the cassette too close to the chainstay. I could not physically rotate the pedals with the chain in place -- at least not without gouging and damaging the frame. I actually tried fairly hard. With the chain on that small cog, things were jammed up pretty good.

View attachment 620948

To solve the problem, I gave up my high gear. The high-limit screw gave me just enough adjustment that I was able to configure the derailleur not to drop into the small cog.

The next photo illustrates another issue. Look at how the derailleur is rotated forward and jammed up against the chainstay:

View attachment 620949

I was not able to prevent this forward rotation. IMHO, just live with it. We're installing an emergency hanger, after all.

Surprisingly, I did not need to adjust the low-limit screw. I also ran into the sort of shifting trouble that you would encounter from a bent hanger. So I threw on the hanger alignment gauge. This next photo shows how bad off the alignment was (thru no fault of the hanger):

View attachment 620950

The hanger itself is perfectly flat. The problem is that Specialized did not design the outside of the dropout to serve as an alignment surface. Clearly on this particular bike I was not going to get perfection in shifting.

I did get pretty good results though -- good enough that I would probably finish a ride. There were a couple of spots on the cassette where a click of the shifter would not cause a shift, and a couple of spots where I'd get a double-shift, but things worked well enough that I would probably finish a ride. At the very least, I'd be able to walk back home.

Hmmm....I guess another lesson-learned here is that the emergency hanger might not help if you just have a slight bend in your original hanger. If the original hanger is still usable, you probably are just as well off in sticking with it.

So it was an interesting experiment. I'm definitely better prepared now should I ever need to use the emergency hanger on the trail. It's going into my pack, for sure.

EDIT: I had to pull slack from the shifter cable after bolting the derailleur onto the emergency hanger and adjusting the high limit. It probably goes without saying that one should be comfortable in shifter- and derailleur-adjustment before attempting to install an emergency hanger.

One last Edit: I should have, but did not, take the bike outside and actually ride it. Sorry. Didn't think of doing that until after I had put the old hanger back on.

Try putting the hanger on the inside of the dropout like the original is mounted.

 

[JonathanGennick]

Try putting the hanger on the inside of the dropout like the original is mounted.

Shiggy, I did indeed try that. There wasn't enough of the axle protruding past the end of the emergency hanger to safely support the dropout. I had maybe one thread of the axle sticking out, and that was it. The weight of the bike would have ended up onto the skewer, and that's not good.