The Hanger

Recently our junior friend Rejick Mukherjee went for a cycling trip to Ayodhya hills. There, during the climb, the hanger of his derailleur broke down. He managed by cutting the chain short and making it a single gear cycle. This catastrophe triggered a lot of discussion on our whatsapp group. Someone mentioned "this is the reason why I always carry a spare hanger". 

Truth be told. Before this I had no idea about what a hanger was. Had heard the term but never bothered to find out. Now after the incident and the discussion I realised it's an important thing to know because it seemed like a common accident to happen and can potentially bring a tour to an abrupt end. 

First step was to research what on earth exactly a derailleur hanger was. I realised it is a hook like thing that is attached to the frame from where the derailleur hangs. Now where is my hanger and what does it look like? Research revealed that steel frames come with integrated derailleur hangers. They are not replaceable. I felt reassured. But I wanted to get to the bottom of it and actually see my hanger or where it should be.

Inverted view of my LHT hanger 

After the Badu trip (read about it here) I took out the wheels to clean them and this was an opportunity to inspect my hanger. Turns out it is indeed integrated into the frame. It is not really part of the frame but a separate thing, black in colour, that is sort of fused into the frame. It doesn't look like it can quite break. It could bend which would require getting it straightened out (though for that I might need to find out an expert ironsmith) but it is highly unlikely to happen. If, God forbid, it breaks that would not be the only part of the bike that would break. Lot of other things would also break, I am sure. It will have to be a tremendous impact. If I survive and can ride again I will certainly need a new bike then :-)

Next step is to check the hanger of my Red Roadie. The red Merida. It's a road bike.