Just to preface I am sorry in advance if I get the names wrong or anything. This is my first time ever looking into bike repair and I'm completely green so everything I know is from about 20 different youtube videos I've blasted through over the past 4 hours.
About a year ago my rear derailleur broke and I'm finally getting around to fixing it The hangar bolt completely snapped in half while I was riding through a busy intersection and left its threads inside the frame. This plus a really negative experience at a bike repair coop when initially trying to repair really turned me off both riding and repairing my bike for a while but I'm finally getting around to it now.
My question is thus: I dont have any of the internals for the hangar bolt (parts A – C on the diagram, not sure what they're called exactly) or the hangar bolt itself. Is it worth it to find replacements or should I just bite the bullet and buy a whole new derailleur? I can't find the exact make of my current one but its an older Shimano Atlus. I've read that the internals aren't VITAL and it'll just cause the rear derailleur to grind against the frame a bit but I'm not sure how great of a solution that really is. I'm also not willing to invest more than $50ish given that I bought the bike used for $100 last year.
Thanks for any help, it's much appreciated 🙂
by Iopponix
5 Comments
A current 8-9 speed derailleur should run at around 15€ or whatever is equivalent to that in your country. Maybe 20 but not more if you shop online. I doubt there is any point in sourcing replacement parts unless you want to challenge yourself. If you tell us how many sprockets are in your cassette and how many teeth the largest sprocket has, and how many chain rings are on the front and how many teeth those have, we can probably point you towards a fitting replacement derailleur and save you a lot of time and frustration
It may be easier and possibly even cheaper for you to just replace the complete derralleur. The vast majority of these simply don’t have any parts backup available so even if you are willing and able to rebuild it you wouldn’t get the parts to allow you to do so. The only parts that are freely available are replacement jockey wheels.
The Altus derailleur is pretty low on the list of components. In my experience it’s not worth investing the time to try and find spare parts. Each of the parts is important to the function of the bicycle and if it’s rubbing on your frame in any way it’s not really going to function well. I know it may not be what you want to hear but you’re way better off replacing it as a unit
Part D is the bolt that broke, right?
These can be replaced, but it’s a hassle. Easiest way to repair it is to get a broken version of the same derailleur and swap the bolt. There’s a spring you need to load while installing it, patience is key.
Easiest way to get back on your bike is to replace the derailleur entirely. Check your Co-op for a used one, or your LBS for a decent replacement.
Replace the derailleur