What In The World Is This Thing Used For?
 

This came in the box with the new bike. What is is for?

Unknown Item

It's a derailleur hanger. It screws into the right-hand dropout, and the rear derailleur then screws into that. Many bikes have them integrated into the dropout, but these can be replaced if they are bent for some reason.

may be for another type of derailer. you decide what you're going to put on and select the hanger that fits it.
then again, maybe it is shipped uninstalled to prevent damage in transit.

Or a spare. That would be nice of them...

Maybe the bike is sold as a single speed
But it can be changed to a multi speed by installing a derailleur-hanger cable shifter etc

Noticed plenty of cheapish WalMart type bikes were sold as single speeds-
they looked like lightly modified multi speed bikes

The single speed fad will end-so perhaps they are thinking ahead.

It's a replacement derailer hanger. If you crash or suck the derailer into the wheel, a replaceable hanger is weak and will break. This saves the frame and you just put the new one in place. This one is a spare and could be useful in the future. Put it someplace that you can remember where it is.

So what kind of bike? This thread is useless without telling us about the bike!

Pictures would be nice too...

Spare part

But but if it was a replacement derailleur hanger- it would look EXACTLY like the one on his bike
and he certainly wouldn't have to ask what it was, right?? He might not know its name-but he would know it was a replacement part??
Unless he is very very new to biking ???

This...and yes, put it somewhere you'll remember as they run about $15-$20.
http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Whee...FWfhQgodNkUA9A

???

It's obviously a derailleur hanger.

You're right, fads that have been around for over 100 years will just fade away, probably in the next couple of months.

Also, most SS/Fixed bikes have horizontal dropouts or track ends, not vertical like a road bike. This allows you to move the wheel fore/aft to tension the chain.
http://sheldonbrown.com/fixed-conversion.html#vertical

njkayaker

Sorry I was unclear.of course it is a derailleur hanger.
The point I was making is if the bike ALREADY had a derailleur hanger on it
wouldn't the OP have seen it,and asked
WHY DO I HAVE 2 OF THESE?
Instead of "what is it for?"
Which is why I was taking a wild guess-thinking perhaps he bought a single speed bike-that could easily be converted to a multi speed bike-
If there was one on the bike already-he wouldn't be calling it an "unknown part"-instead it would be a part he didn't know the name of.

Yeah-it is a derailleur hanger- if it is a spare-he would have asked the question differently I think.
Maybe-likely- it isn't a spare-perhaps he has to install it-not a spare-just not installed yet-
usually cheap bikes don't come with spares-and expensive bikes aren't bought by folks who don't know what a derailleur hanger is-so maybe it isn't a spare at all-
it has to be installed-not a spare at all.
No doubt I'm wrong-curious what the answer is-spare-or part needing installation-or he is new to biking, but bought a pricy bike with a spare(nice touch really)

It's just a spare part. If flippinsweet took the rear wheel off, he could compare it with the hanger that is there, he would see that it is the same. Without that context, it just looks like a random part.

I doubt that shops get a spare hanger with the bikes they get from the factory, vol. If they do, they will usually give it to the customer. Even if they don't give it to the customer, it's not like they are going to make a ton of money on it.

I bet if you break one and go back to the shop you bought the bike from, they'd just give you one if they had spares handy.

If you break one though, you probably wrapped your rear derailleur around your cassette and will need more than just the hanger anyway.

It's a beer bottle opener, made to look like a derailleur hanger.

Kinda like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2554/...452b4e3835.jpg

(jk)

When I was a dealer for Fuji, all their bikes included a spare hanger. None of my other brands did.

My Fuji came with one, my Cannondale didn't.

If he knew anything about derailleur hangers (and that there was one on his bike), he would have know that this was a derailleur hanger too (and not asked about it).

The OP had no idea what it was. It seems quite likely that the OP is very inexperienced with bicycles.

The bike wouldn't really work at all without a derailler hanger (unless it's some single speed thing).

And, if it was a single-speed thing and he had some experience, he'd be able to identify the derailleur hanger.

I'd bet on this.

I've never had a bike that came with a spare hanger, but it used to be that you always got one when you bought a derailleur.

I think most people wouldn't be able to look at a derailleur hanger and know what it is and comparing it to the one on the bike isn't probably either as it's covered up by a skewer and the derailleur itself. He's obviously never built a bike.

Now that everybody has made the OP feel like a dumb ass we'll never find out what bike he's got.

Thanks...

Now here's a question: Since hangers can get bent and damaged, why do we still build them into frames instead of just defaulting to removable ones?

M.

All of my bikes have removable ones. *shrug*

Au Contraire,...I think the OP made everyone else look dumb since it looks like he has more knowledge than everyone thinks as evidenced by this post from the OP on a different thread.


"I run a really small non-profit bicycle repair shop, we mainly fix up flat and do tuneups for kids. We also do Earn-a-bike on refurbished bicycles too."