Take5 weeks ago
A derailleur hanger snapping in a crash isn't a design flaw. It's the design working exactly as intended — a predetermined breaking point engineered to fail before the frame or derailleur does.
The patent language is explicit: hangers exist so the cheap, universal punched part takes the hit instead of expensive derailleur or frame components. Aluminum hangers, now the standard, bend under surprisingly little force — which sounds like a weakness until you clock where the part sits: low, close to the ground, first in line for rocks and curbs and a bike falling on its drivetrain side. Fragile isn't the failure mode here. It's the spec.
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