Wheels Manufacturing hanger or original Cervelo?

[Shrike]

Mine exploded today downhill. No better sight than looking down and seeing an eTap rear mech bouncing along the road under you

Wheels Manufacturing say theirs is stronger than the original supplied one - not sure if that's a good or bad thing though.

And yes, rode home singlespeed, had a link with me

[RussellS]

I have a Wheels Manufacturing replacement rear derailleur hanger on my touring bike. Original fell over, got bent, bent back into shape, etc. Needed replacement. Wheels fit fine. Of course had to take the Park alignment gauge to it to make sure it was straight after installing. Works fine. Not sure strength, stiffness, etc. matters too much with derailleur hangers. As long as its good enough, its good enough. They only get bent when you crash or drop the bike. The hanger bolts onto the frame. Either aluminum or maybe carbon on the frame. Whichever is weaker will break.

[1415chris]

How did it happen, RD was caugth in spokes?

[bearsdidit]

We use a ton of WM hangers to replace broken OEM ones. In general, they fit well and have done their job without complaints.

[mattr]

Wheels manufacturing.

Mate had an S5 (i think) which i could not get indexed right out on a ride. When we got home and popped it up on the stand and checked, it was bent. We tweaked it straight (Only a slight bend).

Just running through the gears, almost zero load was enough for it to begin bending again. I thought maybe the shop had been swinging on it when they built the bike (it was only a few months old)
So we fitted the spare he got with the bike, that was actually perfectly straight once fitted.

Running through the gears caused the same thing to happen again the hanger bent simply due to shifting loads. I said a bad word.

I've been doing this for nearly 30 years, and worked on some right shitty pieces of junk, but i've never seen a hanger that soft.

The WM hanger he bought to replace it did another 18 months, a couple of ironmans and when he eventually went down the road, it broke as designed.
And he then couldn't find the second one that he'd put in a safe place.

I said another bad word

[mogwaiboi]

I was having trouble with the notoriously crap OEM hanger on my 2012 Cervelo R3. It would bend if I looked at it sideways, so I had it replaced with a WM version. It's been OK thus far!

[Shrike]

Mixed bag of reviews, typical! Thanks guys, fine I'll just have to try it and see then, picking one up tomorrow, had to order it in there.

@1415chris nothing dramatic, I reckon it just weakened over time. Couldn't index the bike right on the past couple of rides, the chain kept skipping on two cogs. Thought it was chain wear and was going to measure it this weekend. I think messing around with the 32 cassette a few days back was what done most of the damage, though when it snapped it was just after an uneventful 12 mile TT (on an 11-28), was just rolling home downhill and off it went.

[Stueys]

Cervelo hangers are well known to have the strength of butter, I'm now the proud owner of a park hanger alignment tool purely as my R5 needs fairly consistent hanger adjustment. I'd be very tempted to try someone else's on the basis that it couldn't really fail to be an improvement.

[bikerjulio]

my R5 needs fairly consistent hanger adjustment

I would suggest you replace that immediately with the Wheels version. You have a nasty accident waiting to happen at any time soon. These cheesy hangers don't like being "adjusted".

[Shrike]

Cervelo hangers are well known to have the strength of butter, I'm now the proud owner of a park hanger alignment tool purely as my R5 needs fairly consistent hanger adjustment. I'd be very tempted to try someone else's on the basis that it couldn't really fail to be an improvement.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is it to adjust your hanger yourself? Wondering if I should get a tool and have a shot myself or not.. Chances of it being perfectly straight right after fitting probably isn't great I'm guessing..

This is your tool?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park ... 7C546386UK

Need anything else to do the job?

[kode54]

my friends Cervelo had similar issues. seems that the metal is very soft. WM replacement worked great and still holding out.

[kode54]

Cervelo hangers are well known to have the strength of butter, I'm now the proud owner of a park hanger alignment tool purely as my R5 needs fairly consistent hanger adjustment. I'd be very tempted to try someone else's on the basis that it couldn't really fail to be an improvement.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is it to adjust your hanger yourself? Wondering if I should get a tool and have a shot myself or not.. Chances of it being perfectly straight right after fitting probably isn't great I'm guessing..

This is your tool?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park ... 7C546386UK

Need anything else to do the job?

i have a Abbey Tool DAG. most do the job. anything to make sure the hanger is aligned properly. i use it quite often even after initial straightening....and check periodically. odd that it does go out of align after a season or two. good to have.

[Shrike]

@kode54 sounds like I should have had one of these already

Fine, I'll grab a tool, see what's on sale nearby, want to get this done tomorrow night and ready for the weekend or else I'll be stuck on Zwift

[RussellS]

On a scale of 1 to 10 how hard is it to adjust your hanger yourself? Wondering if I should get a tool and have a shot myself or not.. Chances of it being perfectly straight right after fitting probably isn't great I'm guessing..

Now that I have a rear derailleur alignment tool, I think its an almost essential tool. Of course I managed fine for many years without one. Use it sometimes now. Not often, but when its needed, its the only thing that will work. Easy to use. Not sure what a shop would charge you to go in and have them check/bend the hanger into alignment. $20 ??? No, the new hanger will not be perfectly aligned when you install it. It may be perfectly straight. But you don't know if your frame, hanger mounting point is also perfectly straight. If the frame is bent, out of alignment, then you need to bend the hanger so both combined end up perfectly straight for the derailleur to bolt on. Think of it like a new baseball hat. When you first buy it, It probably won't be a perfect fit. You have to adjust the cap to fit your head. The hanger is kind of like the hat. You have to make it fit your head/frame perfectly so everything fits perfect when done.

[Calnago]

I really like the Park tool the best. One solid piece of steel, simple gauges. Easy peasy. The thing you have to be careful of is breaking the hanger, or worse, the dropout. Get two hangers when you order from Wheels mfg, just in case. Their hangers are very good quality in my experience. By getting two you will have a spare, providing all goes well with the first one. And yes, Cervelo hangers are not known for their strength. Also, I've seen warnings from both Cannondale and Trek saying do not bend the hanger while on the frame and to take it off first. That would actually involve a whole lot of trial and error and I have never once seen or heard of anyone actually doing this in the real world. That kind of warning is really a cover their ass kind of statement. You need the wheel as a reference and the dropouts should be clamped as they would be when you are out riding. Ensure the wheel is in the dropouts straight when you align the hanger. Make sure it's aligned both vertically and horizontally, especially on a Cervelo which has pretty short chainstays. Good luck.
Oh, and repeated bending really weakens it so try to get it right with as little "back and forth" as possible.