[e39540is]

I picked up an old steel roadbike the other day, and I noticed that the derailleur hanger is bent. Anybody know what a person should expect to pay at a bike shop to get it straightened?

 

[MikesChevelle]

how bad is it? couldnt you just straighten it with some vise grips, how perfect does it need to be? I have not had a bent one so I would not know.

 

[djmuff]

Yeah, don't use vise grips. They'll chew up the steel and scratch the paint. If you do it yourself, you can use a large adjustable crescent wrench. It's smooth inside so you'll be less likely to damage the paint, and you can adjust it to fit snugly.

Or you can take it to a shop. Most derailleur hanger adjustments are pretty easy. And they have the proper tool. Best thing to do would be to give your local LBS a call and ask.

 

[raleighgranprix]

Yeah, don't use vise grips. They'll chew up the steel and scratch the paint. If you do it yourself, you can use a large adjustable crescent wrench. It's smooth inside so you'll be less likely to damage the paint, and you can adjust it to fit snugly.

Or you can take it to a shop. Most derailleur hanger adjustments are pretty easy. And they have the proper tool. Best thing to do would be to give your local LBS a call and ask.

I'd had the bike shop do some work for me late last summer, replace a fork, etc. so this may have ended up in the equation but they straightened it out for me for n-o-t-h-i-n-g. So, hopefully a bent derailleur hanger is not a big job.

Doing it yourself seems to be a minor engineering feat or at least you need to be certain of the geometry involved. Surely, there might be someone who can do it at a reasonable price. I searched the net for info on this a year ago and it scared me away from doing it myself. Bottomline, I don't think it's anything costly, not be over $35 if that much and in fact, our shop lists service prices online, I thought, well, I'll have to pay for it but they didn't charge anything and they said it was only slightly bent after I was expecting to hear the worst! I don't think it's a big deal with these shops to do such but then again, since they have the tools, sometimes they will charge since it's basically a one time fix.

 

[zmudshark]

Not that difficult to do yourself if you have the tool. If you do a lot of bikes, the tool is a necessity.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=39

The tool can be had for ~$50

 

[raleighgranprix]

The ol' not to hard if you have the right tool trick.

http://www.downtheroad.org/Equipment/Bikes/Derailleur_Hanger.htm

I read everything the web had, you must have asked in the maintenance/repair area here as well.

Park Derailleur Alignment Gauge (DAG-2) 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.

I'm sure there is plenty on this elsewhere, "bent derailleur hanger", mountain bikers must fool with this from time to time with that kind of riding but I had the chain lock up on me, peeled rubber on my back wheel, did not get in an accident but the derailleur was bent and then I found out the derailleur hanger was bent.

There are all kinds of tricks, people check bent frames from taking string and from the front wheel dropout to the back and seeing if it measures equally on both sides. Probably not a bad tool to have if your bend is not too bad.

 

[e39540is]

Yeah, don't use vise grips. They'll chew up the steel and scratch the paint. If you do it yourself, you can use a large adjustable crescent wrench. It's smooth inside so you'll be less likely to damage the paint, and you can adjust it to fit snugly.

Or you can take it to a shop. Most derailleur hanger adjustments are pretty easy. And they have the proper tool. Best thing to do would be to give your local LBS a call and ask.

I would not use vice grips either. Not for anything on my bike.

I will try the crescent wrench after work. Hopefully that will get it pretty close. Right now, it shifts funky, and you cannot pedal backwards, like when at a stop, and you want to put a pedal at the top to push off from a stop.