Practically each bike that may shift gears has a small, unassuming half that goes unnoticed 99.9% of the time.
However within the uncommon moments when it turns into a difficulty, it may be an enormous headache that can undoubtedly finish a trip, and probably even put a motorcycle out of fee for days or even weeks.
A derailleur hanger is a small element that fastens rear derailleurs to a motorcycle’s body. It’s a single level of contact vital to creating a drivetrain work, because it holds the derailleur within the place required to hyperlink up with the cassette and chain.
If it breaks, your trip is over.
The Derailleur Hanger Downside
For a very long time, this element has been tough to cope with or substitute. It tends to bend when it takes hits, which immediately throws drivetrains out of whack. It may possibly even snap fully, a characteristic relatively than a bug.
Derailleur hangers are supposed to interrupt away within the occasion of a major affect to avoid wasting the body and derailleur itself, each of which value rather more to exchange.
When that occurs, riders haven’t any selection however to choose up a brand new derailleur hanger. Nevertheless, as a result of there hasn’t been a historic commonplace for this element, most riders discover themselves in a Cinderella predicament, attempting to find the glass slipper of a derailleur hanger to suit their bike.
As a result of almost each model has proprietary hangers that always differ from bike to bike, bike outlets hardly ever maintain them in inventory.
SRAM’s Common Derailleur Hanger
This challenge grew to become significantly pronounced in the course of the pandemic when huge shortages in bicycle componentry hit the market. A damaged derailleur hanger might imply a very long time out of the saddle.
Nevertheless, in 2019, the oldsters at SRAM launched a doubtlessly game-changing element with the chance to make swapping out a derailleur hanger as straightforward as throwing on a brand new chain.
SRAM’s Common Derailleur Hanger, or UDH for brief, is an try to create a typical derailleur hanger suitable with any bike or derailleur.
SRAM designs the platform to work throughout builds and types and permits others to make use of and barely modify their design — supplied it nonetheless meets the specs to suit.
“A motorbike model might need to make their very own, barely totally different derailleur hanger with totally different options. That is OK,” mentioned SRAM.
“Nevertheless, in an effort to mark their frames with the UDH trademark, they need to conform to UDH body and hanger specs. This ensures that if a rider breaks their hanger, it may nonetheless get replaced with a typical UDH hanger.”
Common Derailleur Hanger Compatibility and Options
SRAM’s UDH isn’t really “common” simply but. However a litany of bikemakers — that appear to have seen the worth in providing a typical, easy repair to an issue that has plagued shoppers for many years — have come on board.
Manufacturers that equip bikes with the Common Derailleur Hanger embrace the large guys like Trek, Large, and Specialised, together with different high-end producers throughout the globe, together with Canyon, Dice, Ibis, Merida, Orbea, Santa Cruz, Scott Sports activities, Transition, and lots of extra. Take a look at SRAM’s intensive record for a full listing of bikes prepared for the UDH.
SRAM places the variety of bikes suitable with the UDH within the tons of and says extra are becoming a member of day by day.
SRAM’s design is not only a easy commonplace derailleur hanger. It additionally incorporates a couple of cool options to assist mitigate a couple of widespread, irritating issues each rider experiences.
First, the UDH has a lip that meets the bike’s body, stopping a series from dropping onto the body. As an alternative, it forces the chain again onto the cassette, avoiding these wince-inducing sounds of a series raking throughout a body.
Second, the UDH can rotate backward if it takes a giant hit. Which means it may take rather more power than a standard mounted hanger with out snapping off or sending a derailleur into the spokes of a rear wheel.
Why the UDH Issues
Compatibility is an issue within the biking world. Nearly numerous element choices, from cassettes and chains to shifters, backside brackets, and hubs, make constructing and sustaining bikes difficult even for seasoned cyclists. Creating commonplace parts is a simple method to assist riders spend extra time on their bikes and fewer time mulling over spec sheets and measurements.
Related issues are occurring on this planet of hookless rims. Many producers are attempting to determine a commonplace that can enhance compatibility with a sometimes-temperamental product.
It’s solely been a handful of years for the reason that UDH went reside. As extra manufacturers undertake it, it might eradicate a nagging drawback for cyclists.
