PSA: I had to pick between a new derailleur hanger and a whole new frame for a bent bike

A customer brought in a vintage steel road bike from the 80s with a pretty bad rear dropout bend. The hanger was part of the frame, not a separate piece. The choice was to try and cold-set the frame back myself with a big alignment gauge, or tell them to look for a new frame. I went for the cold-set, knowing it was risky on old steel. It took me about two hours of very careful bending, checking the alignment after every tiny adjustment. In the end, I got it within 2mm, which is good enough for a friction shifter setup. The customer was happy to save the original frame. Has anyone else had success bending an old integrated hanger back, or is it always a lost cause?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_fisher4918d ago

My old shop in Portland had a jig for that exact job. We saved a lot of classic frames that way, but it was always a tense process. You did good work getting it that close.

jenkins.wade17d ago

Wait, you had a whole jig just for that? That's wild. I've only ever seen people try to muscle those frames straight with clamps and a lot of hope. @xena_fisher49, that must have been a serious operation. I can't even picture the setup but it sounds like it saved some real gems. Getting it close by hand feels like a win, but having a real tool for it is next level.