fronesis

Yes, that's the one. That's the photo from BikesDirect; looks exactly like what's on my bike, and was confirmed by bikesdirect. But NO ONE else seems to list it or be able to locate it, and BD has stopped replying to my emails.

Luckily, **knock on wood** I haven't bent or broken mine yet. But I bought two of these bikes (one for me and one for my wife), so just as you say, I want to have one in my toolbox just in case. I don't want to have to toss the entire frame away if a break a derailleur hanger. They are replaceable for a reason, of course – they do bend/break sometimes.

As I say, BD immediately confirmed that their hanger #32 is the right one, but their purchase through paypal system continually says it's not in stock.

ChinookTx

Wow that is definitely a concern... I'll try and push bikesdirect on my side too. I was planning on getting a 2nd whipshot for my son. This will put a stop to these plans if they can't source the hanger.

fronesis

I'm guessing you are getting the same silent treatment from BD as I got!

Obviously they should be able to source the hanger from their distributors, since clearly either Ora is providing them with the frames, or BD is purchasing them in bulk to assemble the bikes. Not sure why they won't even respond to emails (I've sent follow-ups) on this. It's not like we are asking for a weird warranty claim or something like that – just want to pay them for a part that should be available.

ChinookTx

So far yes, they've been silent. I contacted Ora directly, as they provide the dropouts/hangers for their frames. No answer yet, but I will give them a few days.

After that, I'll see if I can get the machine shop to mill them. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a CAD file (I already do that kind of stuff for 3d printing).

fronesis

If you go that route, let me know. I’d be happy to buy a couple to help defray the costs.

88Tempo

This one looks really close, but the angles look off just a bit.

https://derailleurhanger.com/product...ur-hanger-416/

ChinookTx

Actually not even close! If you look at the hook at the bottom, it's pictured from behind (non drive side). So the hole for the retaining screw is not on the right side.

88Tempo

Yep I completely missed that.

They have a ton of hangers and that was the only one I saw that was remotely close at a quick glance. I paid too much attention to the top part and didn't take a close look.

ChinookTx

No harm done! I only know because I made the same mistake initially!

fronesis

I emailed the derailleur hangers people, and they were very nice and got back to me right away. But they said they simply did not have that hanger.

kokak

That's a #32 and it shows on the site...

I bought 2 last month for my Motobecane Century Pro Ti

Derailleur Hangers And Thru-Axles for Bicycles, Mountain Bikes, Road Bikes, Hybrid, Comfort and More Save Up to 60% Off New Bikes

ChinookTx

Yes, we know that from the beginning. The problem is you can't order them anymore and Bikesdirect will not reply to inquiries about them.

Bicycho415

Bikes direct just got back to me and said.

"#32 hangers should be available to order and ship by Thursday or Friday of this week."
Thanks,Chris

kokak

awesome news... I think I will pickup another 2 to squirrel away, just in case...

fronesis

I came here to post the same news.

I just hope they are getting enough in stock, since it looks like there may be as many as half a dozen ordered, just from folks in this thread!!

ChinookTx

Could I trouble one of you into a) buying an extra one and b) dump it in a bubble envelope and mail it out to Canada (plain old USPS is fine)? I just realized I won't be able to have it shipped to my home. I was ok with driving across the border to pick up my bike, but it seems wasteful to drive 1h30 both ways to grab a derailleur hanger from the UPS store!

I would of course pay for shipping and the hanger (paypal)

fronesis

That's no problem. When I try to buy later this week I'll get an extra one.

ChinookTx

That would be SOOOO much appreciated. Please let me know if you manage to buy some, I'll pay you right away!

fronesis

I just placed an order for hangers at BD, and they allowed me to go through checkout and paypal took my money! Now to wait and see if they ship out

Note: they raised the price to $25.

ChinookTx: Will send you a PM about details to get one to you.

dwmckee

We had a Motobecane in our shop for a tune up about 18 months ago with Ultegra kit. Nice kit and it looked beautiful. The owner said he could not get it to shift well. We spent about 2 hours trying to tune it and eventually had to go back a step and check the last resort things. We pulled out the frame alignment tools and started to measure. It turned out the front wheel and back wheel and crank all were on non-parallel planes. It was essentially impossible to fine tune it. You could even site down the bike and see the wheels were out of parallel. It was a carbon fork so we could not bend the fork to align it with the back. And it was not possible to make the bottom bracket axis parallel with the rear axle. We sent it back to the owner as is and no charge as we could not get it to work properly. Maybe you get lucky and get a straight one, maybe you don't...

ChinookTx

Awesome! So because you saw ONE bike from them with an issue, everyone else will be lucky if they get a straight one. Great logic!

I've had 5 of their bikes over the course of about 10 years, and they have all been great. By your logic I'm the luckiest man ever!

fronesis

The first part of the story...fine, maybe the owner of the bike had previously crashed it, or maybe the bike came from the factory way out of spec. It could happen.

But the last bit (that I bolded)? Your actual conclusion is that since you saw ONE bike with alignment problems (the cause of which remain unknown, since you didn't see the bike when it shipped from the factory, only when a customer brought it to you) that everyone should avoid the bikes? I've seen a Cannnondale with a BB that was impossible to prevent creaking; I've seen a Trek with a defective isocoupler thingamajig; I've seen a Specialized with defective dropouts....but it would never occur to me to log on to internet message boards and say to people, "well, I guess you could buy a Trek/C'dale/Specialized, but you'd have to just get lucky to get a good one."

Ridiculous.

ChinookTx

Moving away from troll posts, I'm wondering if those of you who own the Whipshot had issues with your rear Thru-Axle lock disengaging while riding?

I was out on the trails yesterday, and twice the lock disengaged and the skewer was slowly coming off loose. Granted some stretches of the trail were pretty nasty (I think I rattled 2 fillings loose!). The first time I felt the bike handled like crap before I realized what was going on. I'm new to Thru-Axle, but I suspect it's not supposed to happen!

With all that said, I'd only used the bike to commute until yesterday, but I really like how it rides on the trails. I was also pleasantly surprised how grippy the stock Griffo tires are. Loud as heck on the pavement, but I've only lost grip twice, and it was 45 degree climbs with thick loose gravel.

Heres some pics of my ride:

fronesis

First off, great pics – looks like a gorgeous ride!

As to your thru axles: you mention a “lock,” but I’m not exactly sure what you are referring to there. I have thru axles on a few bikes, and my understanding is that the threaded “bolt” of the thru axle simple threads into the bike frame directly, and it is held in place there by being at the correct torque spec. So it’s never really “locked” in place or “unlocked” it’s either tight enough at its proper torque spec, or it’s LOOSE.

A few thoughts there:
1. By “lock” I suspect you might be referring to the quick-release like “lever” on the standard DT Swiss thru axles that came with the whip shot. It’s possible that somehow that lever is vibrating loose and this would obviously lead directly to a loose axle.

2. I HATE those thru axles because they make it impossible to know if you have the torque spec correct and because the extra force added by the lever makes it hard to always return to the same torque (which effects the caliper/rotor centering). Accordingly, I sold thus “quick release” thru axles on eBay and replaced mine with some really nice Robert’s Axle project axles. These tighten with a 6mm hex, so you can use a torque wrench on them and get the proper torque.

3. Note: the torque spec on most 12mm thru axles is quite high, around 15Nm or 132inch-pounds. I have encountered a number of riders who had loose thru axles because they didn’t tighten them enough. And I made the same mistake myself on my first thru axle bike: what feels “pretty tight” by hand for me was only around 80 inch-pounds. To get to 130 inch-pounds requires some real force (I’m weak).

ChinookTx

Hmm. I'll need to check again. The ones that came with the bike kind of feel like you a) tighten them to "almost tight enough" with the lever in the "open" position, and then the last bit of pressure is applied by pushing the lever from "open" to "close" position, if it makes any sense. I definitely feel it "clamping" the frame tight when I close it. Just like the old "QR" style skewers. Maybe I'm very wrong, it happens fairly often ;-)

What I meant by unlock was that the lever flipped from what I consider the "closed" position into the "open" position, thus allowing the axle to slightly unscrew itself with vibration, as you've stated in 1.

I am looking at doing exactly what you did, replace them with a nice set of allen type axles, Wolf Tooth or something else. I bought a nice torque wrench, might as well use it!! My car rack allows me to put the bike on without having to remove the wheel so unless I puncture, I don't see the wheels ever needing to come off.