Installing new rear derailleur road bike

So replaceable hangers are a very good thing. If your derailleur takes a hit during your ride, the derailleur hanger is there to absorb the impact. This is what we call a direct mount hanger.

The Universal Derailleur Hanger consolidates thousands of hanger options across the industry. It protects your derailleur against chain jams by pivoting back and out of the way, and slips slightly when encountering impacts.

It improves shifting performance, guarantees better alignment, and works with all drivetrains. This guide can be used on most Shimano derailleurs with some small variance on some models but the principle of installing and adjustments are the same. If you are looking at tuning your shifting performance or to re-index your gears or performing a maintenance on your rear derailleur, disconnect your gear cable, turn in your barrel adjustment and jump on to Step 2.

Step 1: Mount the rear derailleur to the derailleur hanger on your bike. Before you tighten the bracket spindle, make sure that the B-tension screw is not scraping your derailleur hanger. Use a 5 mm Allen key to tighten the bracket spindle bolt, do not over tighten the bolt, just tighten enough for the derailleur to stay on. Use the torque wrench, Shimano recommends Nm, I set mine to 9 Nm. Tighten the bolt until your torque wrench clicks. Then feed the gear cable from the shifters all the way down to the derailleur but don't secure the cable to the derailleur just yet.

Step 2: Set the guide pulley to your smallest sprocket. The guide pulley on the rear derailleur should line up with your smallest cassette sprocket.

Turning the screw clockwise will move the pulley inwards towards the wheel spokes and turning the screw anti-clockwise will move the pulley outwards away from the wheel spokes. They are meant to be ridden, and therefore subject to the wear and tear of daily usage.

The entire process is composed of three main steps, and it should take you less than 20 minutes to complete. First of all, put your bike up on a stand. Then, move its chain to the smallest cog. Next up is removing the chain from the broken derailleur, which can be done by using the chain removal kit.

If you have a newer bike, it may be equipped with a master link with a simple release that removes the need for the removal kit altogether. Finally, unscrew the derailer by spinning it counterclockwise and removing the mounting bolt. To do so, you should first check if your derailleur hanger is intact. Once the hanger is in order, place the rear derailleur on the mounting bolt and tighten it. Then, put the chain back on. Whether you are using SRAM or Shimano, it is crucial to your trail stoke to have a properly adjusted rear derailleur on your mountain bike.

A rear derailleur that is out of adjustment can cause mis-shifts and riding annoyances that not only damage equipment, but can cause injury.

With all of these cables, gears and shifters, how can we be sure that our rear derailleur is properly adjusted? Note: This guide covers every aspect of the rear derailleur from initial installation to adjustment. Use the headers as a guide to get the information you are in direct search for.

Look for Shimano Rapid Rise info at the bottom of this post…it is adjusted differently due to the nature of rapid rise. Thread the 5mm rear derailleur bolt into your derailleur hanger on your frame. Tighten the 5mm bolt to 8 — 10 Nm 70 — 85 in.

Be sure to have the alignment block in the correct position as shown so that the derailleur is situated properly on the frame. Position your chain around the biggest ring of your crank and the largest cog on your cassette.

Wrapping the chain around each and not threading through the rear derailleur, take this measurement and add two links. This is where you will be cutting your chain to length with a chain tool. After your chain is cut to the correct length, thread the chain through the rear derailleur and secure the link. After you have installed your rear derailleur on your mountain bike, there are some initial adjustments that need to be made that apply to all rear derailleurs…regardless of brand or type.