Also someone below said that for the price of a tool you can buy 5 hangers. That may be true, but many bikes do not come with a replaceable hanger, especially older models. Also the tool is very handy to have on a sunday morning when your buddy shows up complaining that his shifting keeps jumping around. Ill buy you breakfast if your spare hangers fit the same bike for everyone you ride with.

My friend has been having a lot of problems with the hanger on his specialized m2 and i can vouch that $50 is less than hes already spent having the LBS fix this problem.

This may be the next tool to order!

THANKS!
Dave

I went to my local bike shop ( in Munich ) for a replacement hanger and perhaps to purchase an alignment tool. My German language is far from fluent but by the time I described/shown the fellow what I wanted, he simply asked me to hold my bike firm. He then manually (no tools) pulled and twisted the existing fitting back into alignment… there!

It looks ok to my eyes and it took him barely 60 seconds. Saved me a lot of money – but I wouldn’t recommend it. He said himself it requires a lot of experience, I’m sure if I did the same, the bracket would have snapped off.

Anyway, just thought you guys might find the story amusing… it’s been 2 weeks now since the “repair” so looking good…

I would like to point out if people are on a budget and would like to buy the Park Tool DAG 2 they can get a similar item that is made by Cyclus Gear Hanger Alignment Tool will do the same job at much lower cost: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cyclus_Gear_Hanger_Alignment_Tool/5300003490/ .This tool has a very good write up also they do ship international as well or you may be able to get it from your own Country.

To Jaap, just because you replace the hanger doesn’t mean it’s necessarily properly aligned for that particular frame. A replaced hanger should always be checked for correct alignment after replacement. It SHOULD be correct but there’s the difference between theory and practice.

Providing the wheel is rotated to the same position eg the tool is aligned with the valve stem at each position, it’s not necessary for the wheel to be especially true as the point out of true will rotate with the tool. That is the reason to rotate the wheel and measure at the same point on the wheel. It

IS however essential that the wheel is correctly fitted into the frame. For this reason whenever I refit a rear wheel I always remove the bike from the stand and do up the QR with the wheel resting on the ground and the bike held vertically. While it’s possible to “pinch” the wheel into the correct position in the stand with one hand while doing up the QR with the other, dropping the bike out of the stand takes only fractionally longer and you can be absolutely certain the wheel is installed correctly. Nevertheless I still confirm by sighting down the stays from behind. It sounds more time consuming than it is in practice but be aware that each time to bend an alloy drop out you’re fatiguing it and bringing it one point closer to death. Replacements may be cheap, but they rarely crack at convenient times, and I’ve seen the results of Mr derailleur becoming intimately acquainted with Mrs Spokes; not pretty!

@Jon – Sorry, I should have mentioned that in the video. The valve should line up with the tool arm so the distance is always exact, even if your wheel is out of true.

Just out of interest what purpose does lining the arm up with the air valve serve?

ossie

@ J.Karlik – Thanks for the coffee!

@ Japp – It’s true you could buy 5 hangers for the price of this tool, but it is wasteful to replace parts that are easily repaired. Also, a lot of bikes don’t have replaceable hangers.

@ Anthony – Thanks! I used to use the DAG-1 and I thought it was a great tool too. It was less expensive… too bad they stopped making it