Unlike many new standards on the market, SRAM's new UDH universal derailleur hanger standard for should do away with a lot of confusion by essentially — if SRAM's strategy goes to plan — reducing the number of different mountain bike mech hangers on the market to just one.
Costing just $15, the universal derailleur hanger promises to be worth a lot more than its actual cost.
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SRAM UDH universal derailleur hanger details and information
This single hanger should work with any bike designed around the standard, essentially consolidating all of the different hangers and bespoke solutions manufacturers come up with to mount a derailleur to a bike.
SRAM says that by doing away with loads of different derailleur hanger designs, mech performance can be improved because there are simply fewer variables.
Alignment is also claimed to be greatly improved over bespoke systems, so gear set up should be easier and shifting should be crisper.
The mech hanger has some interesting features designed right into it. SRAM claims that if your chain jams, the hanger pivots backwards protecting the mech from being damaged.
Not only that, SRAM also claims it can slip slightly rewards to help absorb impacts when the mech is knocked. Apparently you’ll need to put the hanger back to its original position manually, but anything to help save a derailleur is good in our books.
There’s also a neat in-built feature that’s claimed to automatically re-rail your chain if it slips off the bottom cogs of your cassette.
It looks like a hooked lip that helps stop your chain from getting caught between your bike’s frame and the freehub body, potentially saving it from getting damaged.
To top it off, the new UDH is compatible with all current, commercially available mountain bike and electric mountain bike derailleurs from Shimano, Box Components, Sunrace and others.
SRAM is also claiming that the hanger will be available everywhere, so if yours breaks, you won’t need to cross your fingers hoping that your local bike shop will stock it — if there’s only one hanger to stock, it’s almost a dead cert that it’ll be there.
SRAM UDH universal derailleur hanger limitations
Unfortunately, the hanger doesn’t appear to be backwards compatible with current bikes, so you’ll still need to keep replacements for your existing steed’s hangers for as long as you plan to keep it.
Equally, there’s no mention of whether it’ll ever make its way to road or gravel riding, but as betting types, we'd happily put money on manufacturers putting pressure on SRAM to make it or a slightly modified version available for road bikes too.
