Replaceable Rear Derailleur Hanger
I have a carbon frame with an aluminum replaceable rear derailleur hanger. The hanger seems to easily get out of alignment because of the softer aluminum -- especially if I cross chain alot. Yep, I am really bad about using my 53 chainring with my last 3 cogs!
Anyway, use to have a steel and all aluminum frames, so hadn't had this problem before. Anyone else experience this issue? What do you do to keep from always needed to realign your rear derailleur hanger?!
Replaceable Derailleur Hanger
Ummmm... my suggestion is also to stop crosschaining... if you find that that is the gear combination that you are most comfortable with than perhaps you should change your cassette to accomodate that choice...or perhaps even change to a compact crank.
You didn't mention whether your bike is a double or triple, however the Saint hub would be quite a bit of work for a shop to set up. First, it's a mountain bike hub that is spaced differently than a road bike(mtn bike spacing is 135 and road is 130) . A shop could change this to accomodate your bike, but it's also a long cage derailleur...is that what you have on your bike now? If not, then the shifting will be quite a bit slower with more chain slap when you shift. The long cage derailleurs are setup for cassettes that are 27 tooth and up.. is yours in that range?
You mentioned that your derailleur hanger keeps bending ... have you replaced it each time that has happened? You can generally bend these back, but obviously they are not as strong as they once were...
Good luck with this!!
Replaceable derailleur hanger
Very wise thoughts on replacing the hanger... you definitely have to be concerned with the material of the frame vs the hanger. If the hanger is stronger than the material of the frame, you could potentially damage the frame... which is a much bigger expense. I would generally NOT think about bending the hanger back unless I didn't have a choice ...if I had to order one or needed to get myself back home. Even though your LBS can bend it back very accurrately, it still is NOt the same strnegth that it once was. The other issue could be that the bike may have some sort of chain line problem... other than the obvious of cross chaining... you might have them check that as well.
The idea of the compact crank will definitely give you lower gearing, and might just fill that need!
Good luck!!
Replaceable derailleur hanger
To answer your questions.... first chainline can be determined by putting the chain on your small chainring and the middle cog on your rear cassette. At that point, it should be in a perfect straight line, if you were standing behond the bike looking at it. If there is any deviation, then I would recommend you taking it to your LBS and have them look at it.. sometimes you can make it a bit better.
Secondly, by having a derailleur hanger stronger than ithe orginal will definitely put more stress on the frame.. exactly where you don't want it. I would also recomend NOT straightening it out .. when that happens the integrity of the aluminium is compromised by bending and then again when we s straighten it.
Have you put more thought into the compact crank?