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Is a hanger banger a good idea to save your hanger or does it save the hanger and risk wrecking the actual derailleur, had a recent night ride, 10 mins in wrecked hanger on rock had to walk back to car, would hanger banger saved my night or just wrecked my dereailleur instead.
spare mech hanger would probably have saved your night. i don't see the value in strengthening a sacrificial part that's designed to break off in an impact, and save the two bits that it's screwed to, but i'm sure others have other opinions.
I would say the mech hanger is there to protect the frame, more than the mech and I have often wondered whether the introduction of a hanger banger would prevent the mech hanger doing it's job, resulting in damage to the frame.
probably muller the frame or mech instead, never seen the point unless its a steel frame and cheep mechs where you could argue the mech is the more disposable part (yes the steel can be bent back, but thats not somethign you can easily do with a normal multi tool).
ive had one for about 5 years and never broken a hanger or mech despite riding rough stuff regularly. i'd definately reccomend them
I've got two Santa cruz bullits (4 years and 2 years) and an on one 456 (2 years), all with non-replaceable mech hangers. I use hanger bangers on all three and haven't had any problems. Good idea I think.
I've got one on my '03 enduro - the replaceable dropout/frame design is so crap that if the replaceable dropout goes, it takes part of the frame with it 😮
I've ridden MTBs over some pretty rough stuff for about 18 years and I've only ever broken a mech off once, and that was someone elses who stopped faster than I did! It's such a rare event I can't see the value myself, I don't even own a spare hanger.
hanger bangers rule.
used them for years and have never seen a frame failure due to one. nor have i ruined a mech.
went through 3 big hit hangers a weekend minimumn before hand
In all the years of riding, I've only ever mashed one mech - weirdly, it was a front one in a fall in Morzine - still can't explain how...
went through 3 big hit hangers a weekend minimumn before hand
This suggests 1 of 3 things.
1) You go really big and gnarly, radder than the raddest.
2) You have zero skill (probably not the case 🙂 ) or
3) The Big Hit had a really naff hanger design like my old Malt, where the hanger would just fatigue a crack into the hanger at a bolt point, then fall off while it sat in the garage.
coffeeking, number 2!