Direct Mount Derailleur Hangers will save you hundreds of dollars

 

 

The derailleur hanger, a small cast alloy component on your bike that either goes unnoticed or can be the cause for so much grief on the road or trail.

 

 

 

First, a brief history on what it is and what it does. 60 odd years ago, when rear gears were first introduced to cycling, frame manufacturers and derailleur manufacturers had to come up with a solution to attach the derailleur to the bike. Back then, the frame had a longer piece of steel below the dropout, where the derailleur would clamp onto and operate from. Whilst this worked fine, it became a massive problem as soon as the derailleur suffers an impact and bends or breaks that small frame extension. Some riders would try to repair this damaged extension, others would scrap the frame. 

Soon after, bike manufacturers created replaceable derailleur hangers that could be easily swapped if damaged, bent or broken. Each one creating their own hanger design, frame dependant and mostly made out of cast alloy. Whilst this was a significant improvement on the first generation of derailleur hangers, the lack of a standard between brands and the construction of the hanger itself only solved the “fixing after it breaks” parts of the problem. Derailleurs would still end up hitting the spokes after a somewhat medium/heavy hit to it. Now, after a few decades of this new standard, Shimano had a look at solving the problem and strengthening one of the bike’s weakest points.

The Direct Mount Derailleur Hanger is now a much sturdier component, made out of forged alloy and “S” shaped, instead of being flat, thus making this whole area stronger and less prone to failure.

Ask riders who had their hangers failing mid ride, either because it broke or bent enough to get caught by the spokes. They’ll tell you of the hundreds of dollars spent in fixing a broken derailleur and broken spokes.

Whilst the new Direct Mount Derailleur Hanger is now the norm for high end mountain bikes, it hasn’t yet been implemented on entry & mid-level mountain bikes on major brands, due to its extra cost ($3 extra per bike). Polygon Bikes is well known for manufacturing not only their own brand but also producing bikes for a multitude of other brands. In doing so they are able to draw on all the best concepts and technologies and put them into their own Polygon range with nearly all Polygon mountain bikes now featuring this new Direct Mount Derailleur Hanger. The results have been great and we can confirm that damage to the derailleur due to hanger failure (being bent or broken) has significantly reduced. Polygon bikes not only offer best value but also feature Shimano’s newest innovation in mechanical problems prevention.

Start saving hundreds of dollars by shopping at Bicycles Online for Mountain Bikes.

 

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