Derailleur alignment tool recommendations?

[Brucey]

I'm just back from leading a tour where on three other people's bikes (one because it was bent already, two after crashes!) I straightened gear hangers by the simple expedient of poking an allen key into the derailleur's attachment screw socket and pulling on it until everything looked alright. In each cases it only took two or three pulls to get the mech near enough parallel to the wheel that indexing worked in all gears, which is all that matters.
I do have and would much rather use the proper Shimano tool, but it's a bit too big to take on tour! So I thought I'd share the welcome news that when necessary, near enough can actually be good enough!
Hint: orient the allen-key of your multi-tool so it's folding axis is aligned with the direction you need to pull. Depending on the size of the multitool, this can give you a reasonably long lever that will not fold up when you pull on it.

Most bikes with aluminum hangers can be dealt with this way; the hangers are pretty soft. Steel hangers require a bit more effort. Needless to say if one of a party has a nutted wheel, it takes a bit longer but you can do a 'proper fix' using the wheel as a tool. [You can check the alignment using a QR wheel but it mightn't be strong enough where it matters to tweak the hanger]. However the first sort of fix can eventually come back and bite you; some years ago I tweaked a gear hanger on a friend's steel frame so that the RD would work OK (i.e. so the RD looked OK but I didn't really know if the hanger was straight or not) and recently a different RD was fitted. The replacement RD looked miles out, really terrible. I tweaked the hanger so that the replacement RD would work, but not until the RD was 'perfect', little believing that the hanger was bent so far, and reckoning that part of the error would have to be in the replacement RD. When I later checked it with the correct tool, it turned out that the hanger had been that bent and so had the old RD. At least I didn't over straighten the hanger, which could easily have happened if the RD had been bent too.

I am part way through making a better tool for checking/ straightening RDs now; I am not keen on bending another gear hanger away from straight for no good reason....

cheers

[CJ]

Sorry to be a hallion but ... i used a pair of molegrips and my eye on the 1 occasion i've had to bend a gear hanger straight ... worked fine ....

Allen key in the mech bolt is much quicker - a ten second job - and easier with the mech in place to see when it's near enough straight.
I've done this roadside repair many times - but with less alacrity in these days of alloy hangers, that may snap rather than bend. In case that happens I carry a get-you-home universal bolt-on hanger.

[bikerwaser]

Thanks for all the info.

I've also been looking at homemade versions.

Here's one but there's so many more out there : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIzd0xdkowM

[CJ]

I'm just back from leading a tour where on three other people's bikes (one because it was bent already, two after crashes!) I straightened gear hangers by the simple expedient of poking an allen key into the derailleur's attachment screw socket and pulling.

Most bikes with aluminum hangers can be dealt with this way; the hangers are pretty soft. Steel hangers require a bit more effort.

I don't find that. Steel is harder, but heavier, so they make steel hangers thinner and the result is pretty much the same IME. The steel hangered bike I manipulated last week was palpably easier to bend than the two alloy hangered ones. I used an old all-metal Topeak X-Tool.

[Brucey]

I think the aluminium ones vary a fair amount, both in style and material. Aluminium ones tend to work-harden up to a point, but if they start to feel even slightly more easy to move, they may be 'over the hump' and just about to break.

I have an idea that forged steel dropouts in silver-brazed frames may retain more strength than other types; they certainly vary too.

cheers

[SA_SA_SA]

.....Needless to say if one of a party has a nutted wheel, it takes a bit longer but you can do a 'proper fix' using the wheel as a tool....

Why would a nutted wheel make a difference?

[Brucey]

a nutted wheel can exert a much higher clamping force and the end of the axle is much less likely to bend too. You would feel a proper Charlie if you snapped the end of someone's QR skewer....

cheers

[gregoryoftours]

Not exactly on topic but the more expensive CNC aluminium hangers tend to be stiffer and more brittle than the forged ones, they are really hard to bend and snap without much warning.

[David9694]

The Cyclus does have an inboard nut and you get a better feel if you tighten it in. Taking a reading in between the stays is a pain - while the feeler housing moves freely up and down, it’s not simple to negotiate a stay.

I check the wheel is basically true. I go by feel. 3 o’clock - tap against the rim, swing round to 9 o’clock, tap - did that feel different? Then 6 o’clock/ 12 o’clock tap, compare. If making the tap needs more pressure at one point, the hanger needs to move in that direction.

[Gattonero]

there are some common flaws with these tools;

1) the load is usually borne by the screw threads in the hanger; it is a much better idea to have an 'inboard nut' i.e. a nut on the inside of the hanger so that the load is not borne by the screw threads. [the loads required to reset a steel gear hanger are at least x10 vs the service loads...]

2) the pointer is usually rubbish; it needs to both move out of the way (when you swing the tool 180 degrees) and yet retain the setting. Most do neither very well, despite the fact that it would be very easy to incorporate a hinge etc into the pointer...

There is no need to over-complicate things.

The real practice tells you that even with the 12-speed setups one doesn't need need to go mad and look for NASA-spec accuracy. A slop/play of +-2mm of the indicator tip to the wheel is perfectly acceptable. The vast majority of derailleurs will have a greater error in their pivots in the very first place, and I'm talking of new ones, so think what happens with worn-out derailleur pivots (let alone the jockey wheels)

A simple way to use the indicator tip against the wheel -which needs to be decently true!- is to fit an o-ring on it.
Easy-peasy.
Screw firm the pivot of the tool onto the hanger, slide the gauge and compare the reading of the tip at 9:00 and 3:00, adjust the o-ring to mark the position and pull/push as needed until you have an even reading between the two opposite points on the wheel (+-2/3mm is acceptable). Then move to try the same reading (the o-ring stays in place and marks your reading position) at 6:00 and 12:00, again pull/push as needed until you reach the mark set by the o-ring.

I always use this method even with "busy" bikes with pannier racks, frame-locks and so on. The only problem you'll have, is a bike with skirt-guards, though those rarely have derailleur gears.

And there's no particular need for an inboard nut: one wants to stop well before applying such force to justify the use of it. Most replaceable derailleur hangers are so soft that is almost certain the metal will crack well before any damage can happen to their threads.
Steel hangers are not immune to damage either, especially the old forged dropouts with the hole for the long adjuster screw (like the old Campagnolo ones) can easily crack right there; while cheap pressed-steel dropouts found in those old mass-production bikes do not need any particular finesse and can be straigthened with an adjustable spanner, which is actually better because those dropouts are usually thin and not having enough threads to provide support for the alignment tool.

[Brucey]

There is no need to over-complicate things.

there is no need to put up with overpriced rubbish either. I managed to make a better adaptor for my (broken) Park Tool in about fifteen minutes. It is adjustable for free play, just as easy to use, has the option of a backing nut, and if I ever damage it beyond repair, I can make another one in even less time.

...And there's no particular need for an inboard nut:....

In many cases no. But in other cases YES; I've definitely needed it before now. Since it is a useful feature that could easily be added to the tool design with no detriment, it seems like an omission that no commercially available tool has this incorporated.

cheers

[Gattonero]

There's a british saying "bad tradesman blames the tools".
I've used my Park Tool daily for over 10 years now, never broke anything and replaced the pivot twice just to prevent it from wearing the main body. Clearly, it was some well overpriced £60 rubbish

[Brucey]

since I'm happier with just a spare wheel than any tool I can buy, it says much about a) whether I'm a bad workman and b) the quality of the tools that are available.....

Putting up with any slop in the pivot when it is easily avoided just seems crazy to me.

cheers

[scottg]

For those spending other peoples money on tools.
Abbey Tools makes a titanium version of their Hanger tool, $325
the steel version is a mere $185.

Both have replaceable brass bushes for the T-bolt, so accuracy can be maintained
if you happen to wear the tool out, trying to align 14 speed drive trains in the future.

Silca will no doubt build an alignment tool involving lasers and bluetooth,
should be around $500.

Abandon all hope ye who go here.....
https://www.abbeybiketools.com/collections/tools

[SA_SA_SA]

a nutted wheel can exert a much higher clamping force and the end of the axle is much less likely to bend too. You would feel a proper Charlie if you snapped the end of someone's QR skewer....

But I thought it was the derailleur hanger (ie an integral part of the frame) that was being bent: I don;t see the connection with either wheel nuts vs QR?
Does that comment only apply to modern replaceable hangers?