Anyone have any good tips/tricks for checking the alignment of a derailleur hanger without the requisite Park/etc tool?
Screwing the longest bolt you can find into it often highlights how squint it is.
Make a tool. Length of angle iron,a bolt, stack of washers or a spacer. and a ruler. One of the cheapest and easiest bike tools to make.
Look at it closesly then reattach singlespeed wheel.
Got a spare rear wheel with a threaded axle?
If so (or can borrow one), remove rear mech and thread spare wheel into hanger - it's the same thread as your mech.
Spare wheel should be parallel to your wheel - if not, manipulate hanger via spare wheel until they're parallel.
I think the lifeline tool is about £20.
Depends on the hanger but many have a flat side - take it off and lay it on something flat . If there's gaps its bent, if it sits flush it is straight. Of course that only works if it can lie flat!
Fit a mech and eyeball it. It's meant to hang downwards.
If you make a tool the thread is M10x1, which is finer than the M10 that tends to be sold in hardware shops
Only works if the dropout is perfectly flat too. Many/most aren't.Depends on the hanger but many have a flat side - take it off and lay it on something flat . If there's gaps its bent, if it sits flush it is straight. Of course that only works if it can lie flat!
Wheel is the best "bodge".
Buying the proper tool is quick, cheap and easy.
It's one of the checks i do when the bikes get a proper service.