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Steel Vs. Aluminum Touring Bicycle Frame Materials:
Derailleur Hangers Bending, Braking, Repair and Replacement.
I believe that good touring bikes can be made from either
steel or aluminum. I have several years of experience of extended touring on
both types of bikes and have had derailleur hanger problems with both frame
materials. My aluminum frame derailleur hangers have only bent from trauma
like a crash or rough baggage handling. My steel frame derailleur hangers
seemed to either bend in time with normal use or bend from similar traumas
mentioned above. I am not sure why my steel derailleur hangers bend over
time without external trauma. It may be rust weakening the structure over
time or just hard traveling. The fact is during any bike tour a field repair
on either type of rear derailleur hanger may be necessary.
It is true that aluminum can not be bent back but steel
can. This is why aluminum bikes have a replaceable rear derailleur hanger
and steel does not. When touring on an aluminum bike I carry a spare
derailleur hanger for emergencies. When the hanger experiences trauma I pull
out my new one and replace it. The whole operation takes about 60 seconds
and can be performed on the roadside or with a flash light while camping.
The replacement hanger is very small and (because it is aluminum) weighs
only a few grams. Also because my emergency derailleur hanger is aluminum,
and will not rust, I zip tie it under the rear rack and forget about it
until an emergency arises. The question of where to find a new derailleur
hanger to replace a used emergency hanger is easily answered with global
shipping but I personally have never experienced repeated problems with my
rear aluminum derailleur hangers and needed to ship a replacement.
With a steel bike the solution for a bent rear derailleur
hanger seems simple at first; bend it back. I personally have had numerous
problems with my steel rear derailleur hanger coming out of alignment in
time or bending after trauma. At first I was able to take my bike to a bike
shop in the USA and have it bent back to perfection with their large shop
tool. After I started venturing further on the road less traveled without
modern bike shops I learned about frame material the hard way. Two examples
come to mind:
On an extended bike tour in Baja, Mexico and again deep in
the Colorado wilderness my steel hanger became unaligned from hard
traveling. At first I could tolerate the sloppy shifting but eventually the
shifting system became unusable. I removed the derailleur, eyeballed the
hanger back into shape with my Leatherman, and replaced the derailleur. This
improved the situation but not to perfection. I tried many techniques over
several hours such as trying to force it back with the derailleur still
attached but my bike never shifted well again. Also with all this bending my
hanger grew weaker. I discovered that the only way to bend a steel
derailleur hanger back perfectly is with the big and heavy derailleur hanger
straightening tool I had frequently used while working as a mechanic in bike
shops. This tool is too much to be carried along on a bike tour. For this
reason I prefer aluminum replaceable derailleur hangers; 60 seconds to
perfection is worth the few grams of spare part.
Cant get your shifting just right? Maybe your derailleur hanger is out of
alignment. Just thread this tool in your hanger and gauge the distance to
all points on your wheel. Tool lets you align the hanger by simply applying
pressure.
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