The mech hanger is designed to fail to save your frame. It may bend, it may break but is should save your frame.
It’s rather like a bumper on a car it is designed to fail to save more critical/expensive components. Also, like a bumper, they don’t just bend or crack on their own. There needs to be some force applied like some ones briefcase swinging into it because some one else left their bike in the way on the train or shifters pushed while the bike is stationary.
Buy a new hanger, get the other damage fixed and move on without venting your spleen at some yoof in a fluffy dice emporium.

[video]https://youtu.be/0MJ0KdvXHzs[/video]

I do bridal ways and country single track.

You had my full support until you admitted being involved in weddings

Look at the broken-off faces of the two parts of the hanger and you’ll see that it’s made from a coarse crystalline alloy. This is deliberate and is to ensure that it snaps sacrificially. You can’t straighten a bent hanger as it will work-harden and will soon snap. It’s as others have writtten above; it’s like the fuse in a circuit, a deliberate weak spot. Derailleur hangers are easily bent when the bike falls on its right side or gets pushed against another bike, as in a train for example.

You + bike are probably over 100kg, now imagine you are rolling at 3mph and get an assistant to stop the bike on the spot by ramming a stick into the rear wheel.

First off, the stick will be wrenched from his hands (broken hanger) then it will rotate round the wheel until it hits the chain stays (or the chain stops it (the mech)) and then it will break spokes until the bike stops.

Then you’ll see why the damage can be so severe. Before replaceable hangers people would destroy frames doing this…

Should a mech hangar bend or snap?

Yes. It should bend or snap to protect the frame and mech. Whether it bends or snaps depends on the force.

What a mech hanger won’t do is fall in half by itself, which I think is what you’re asking.

Are you sure the mech hasn’t taken a hit on the train? I’ve only had two mech into spoke incidents both were my fault. Mech hanger is designed to deform to save the frame.

How did you break the first one?

How did you break the first one?

Just riding along.

OP all the answers are above. This is no ones fault (though youn can check the hanger for straightness but few do!).

Hangers are easy to break (too easy imo but what choice do we have) especially given the high force we can put through cranks esp at low speeds. It’s not about racing/enduro or whatever.

Also: no need to rebuild wheel and twisted chain links can be straightened easily.

Mech hangers only fail a couple of ways. Either they get pushed into the spokes by being pressed up against something or they get sucked into the spokes by incorrect rear mech adjustment. Neither are the suppliers fault. Only the second could be if they fitted it.

You just have to suck it up.

Lol at some of the replies heheh!

Thanks all.. I’ll just have to get it fixed.. Guess I was venting a bit as I was a bit annoyed to say the least!

Fine example of the Dunning Kruger effect.

It sucks when this sort of thing happens but as has been said it’s not the bike shop’s or mech hanger company’s fault, it’s just one of those things. If something stop the chain running freely then the mech hanger gets ripped forward and will usually snap the mech hanger before bouncing into the rear wheel and trashing your spokes/wheel for good measure.

I had it happen to me on an almost brand new bike, not 100% sure what caused it but had just ridden through a bit of gravel so suspect a bit got stuck in the chain or something – luckily for me the mech bounced off the spokes and I stopped before it did any real damage.

Buy 2 mech hangers this time?!

I’ve got a hangar full of hangers if you want won.

You are right in that things don’t just break for no reason. Carzy-legs is right, these things tend to happen just setting off within a pedal stroke or two. It could be that the chain jumped along the block when you got it off the train, something want 100% adjusted right, or something got knocked on the train. I guess the chain was trying to change sprocket when seeing off, which often doesn’t work very well.
The hanger did it’s job, and I’ve just had then snap rather than bend. If they’re strong enough to bend, then there is a danger the force will break your frame also.

My chum broke his Foil chainstay when a bit of gravel jammed the derailleur and it then did a loop the loop round his cassette. Luckily he found out who supplied the gravel and was able to pursue them for the damage…

Luckily he found out who supplied the gravel and was able to pursue them for the damage…

Really 😕

No not really. Gotcha 😀 He did break his Foil tho.

As everybody has already said this is the hanger doing it’s job and breaking to be honest I would be worried if it bent instead as that would involve transferring load to the frame it is supposed to be protecting.
My Santa Cruz original hangers did seem a little too keen to sacrifice themselves to the greater good but the aftermarket replacements seem to have a better lifespan without yet allowing damage to the frame.