Sorry if this heading meant a bit of sarcasm, I would have certainly ended up with a sarcastic post about my experience replacing a bent rear derailleur hanger in my Schwinn Sporterra.
It all happened on a Saturday evening when I was too bored and was trying to fiddle with the derailleur cogs which were clogged with lot of black muck. I opened up the cogs, cleaned them and looked at the derailleur adjusters. I felt my chain was rubbing something while I was on the smallest freewheel and it looked like my derailleur needed some tuning. I did some adjustments and I felt I needed to check the bike on the trainer.
Shifting through the rear wheels I felt everything looked alright until I shifted to 1-1. All of a sudden the chain was on my rear spokes and got jammed between the spokes and the plastic spoke protector. Damn.. I went back to the derailleur adjustments and this time I could never get them to work – something looked to be out of sync. In the end it was a bent rear derailleur hanger..
Schwinn Sporterra has a replaceable derailleur hanger, but my worry was that whether I get it readily in India. Some research through a few websites and forums didn’t look to be positive. I sent some distress emails to a couple of bike shops in Bangalore to see if they had any stock. The other thing I did was tweeting to @RideSchwinn
While waiting for responses I happened to chat with Venky who was having a bent derailleur issue with hist Lemond and was probably waiting for a solution. Both of us wanted to try our luck at Wheelsports Bangalore and visited with my hanger (which I removed from my bike) and Venky’s Lemond. Naveen at Wheelsports bent Venky’s derailleur hanger back in shape but since I had just my hanger with me I had to return with my bent hanger 🙁 Only positive thing was seeing Venky’s bike back in usable state 🙂
Reply from @RideSchwinn came two days later on Monday and they directed me to a contact in TI Cycles who distribute Schwinn in India. An email was sent to the contact they pointed explaining my bike’s make and model and the shop from which I bought the bike in Bangalore, a couple of days went by and there was no sign of any response.
I called another prominent bike shop in Bangalore and they said they have the derailleur hanger – Yay! The happiness was short lived, they explained that they fabricated the hanger as the original parts are not available. They had fabricated the hanger out of steel as the original hanger was prone to bent or break :p I had no further words to speak.
By this time I started to lose hopes on getting an identical derailleur hanger and was making plans on converting my bike to a single speed in the absence of a replacement hanger.
Came next Saturday, I was out of my occasional rides and was feeling dejected, I got a call from TrackandTrail the division of TI Cycles saying that my replacement hanger was sent to the bike shop where I bought the bike! I collected the hanger and the cost also looked reasonable compared the prices I happened to see for derailleur hangers online.
The contact in TI Cycles whom I contacted, though he didn’t responded to my email did whatever he could to send a replacement hanger through TrackandTrail to my local bike shop.
Here are the old and new hangers.
There ends my hanger replacement saga – Yes the derailleur hanger is indeed replaceable! You can imagine that this post could have changed to a real sarcastic one but was saved by some people who cared customer service!
Hi THere,
Even my derailleur is broken and looking for a replacement.
I called up track and trail and they said its 2K. Do you know any shop in bangalore where i can purchase the same at reasonable price?
Sir,
I happen to need exactly the same derailleur hanger. Level of difficulty? I’m writing you from the middle of the USA. Any suggestions or websites you’d recommend?
Thanks in advance,
Brian
I have broken the same hanger. Can you please
Give me the email id of the shop from where I can get the hangar.
Dear Sir,
I also need a rear deraileur hanger for my Schwinn Sporterra. Can you please help. Will be highly obliged
Hi, I’m having the same issue. My rear derailleur hanger has snapped in half. It’s exactly the same as yours. My nearest Schwinn shop is based in London. I might plan to travel there 2 weeks from now. If I could somehow get them to mail me the piece. That would be fantastic. I’m living in Sheffield.
Do you remember what number the Derailleur Hanger was? WheelsMFG.com has the sporterra series as Der Hang #27, which is a single-bolt. obviously wrong.
Many thanks for your help!
Do you still won this Schwinn Sporterra? How has been your overall experience like? I am planning to buy a 3 old one and therefore, If you could share your experience with spares and what could possibly require replacement for a 3 year old one?
Thanks. Facing same issue. The local vendor is asking for 1k for this. I will be trying this today
where can I order the above hanger from ? thanks
I have the same problem.. What was the part number?
Where can I get one? I need one
Is it suitable for schwinn sporteera hybrid bike.
Hello
I have problem with that hanger where I’m can get some
Thanks