My flawless AXS shifting started to skip a little on my little yesterday, I set the B gap with the gauge, meticulously aligned the wheel and spent an age trimming one way then another. Eventually I noticed the hanger seemed slightly out, I realigned it by MK 1-Eyeball and all seems to back to normal.

Is it worth investing in a tool? And if so which one, I was advised by a LBS that cheap ones are useless.

It’s a shame I don’t have access to a lathe and other such tools any more, it would be simple to knock up a beefy one.

Yes. One of the best investments.

I've used a Park tool at work and a X-Tools version at home. I much prefer the latter.

It's one of those tools you only need occasionally but makes life so much simpler. Trying to set up gears is much easier once you know everything is straight. If you have riding mates locally, maybe buy one between you?

I've the X-tools one. As Colin says, it's one of those tools that when you need it, you need it.

No point in building a house until the foundations are correct.

Iv thought about one of these for awhile but how does it make your mech straight, do u still need a big hammer to bend it back??

The tool is the lever as well as the ruler.

It screws into the mech hanger and then you use it as a lever to bend the hanger straight relative to the wheel.

Mike wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:46 pm Iv thought about one of these for awhile but how does it make your mech straight, do u still need a big hammer to bend it back??

Bloody firemen, worse than farmers for using the wrong tools

The tool screws into the hanger in place of the mech. If you find the hanger's misaligned you "gently" bend it with the tool. You have to be careful not to overstress the metal of the hanger since they are designed to break if too much force is applied.

I've always used an old solid axle threaded into the hanger and a bit of threaded bar or whatever is straight and handy in the dropouts. It's easy to see if these aren't parallel, and you can bend it with the axle.

Not as accurate or user-friendly as a proper tool admittedly, but a lot cheaper and always worked for me.

thenorthwind wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:52 pm I've always used an old solid axle threaded into the hanger and a bit of threaded bar or whatever is straight and handy in the dropouts. It's easy to see if these aren't parallel, and you can bend it with the axle.

Not as accurate or user-friendly as a proper tool admittedly, but a lot cheaper and always worked for me.

That's genius. Thanks

Another tip a came across during my research was to use a wheel with a 10mm thread, screw this into the hanger, grab the rim and use it to get both wheels parallel. Obviously not tried it but sounds like a genius hack.

I’m really surprised how much a little Misalignment impacts performance, obviously 11 and 12 speed stuff is much more sensitive to these things.

Miss my speed hub. Bolted it on, did many thousands of miles without issues. It did however over the years make me forget about the finesses of derailleur adjustments.

techno wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:39 pm That's genius. Thanks

Think I read it on STW - not my idea anyway - but glad it helps.

The wheel idea is interesting Steve. I guess it depends how true both wheels are (but shouldn't make too much difference), and I wonder how easy it would be to see if they're parallel. Might try it if I get bored!

Cant go wrong with a hammer n screw driver, useful for many jobs

Mike wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:39 am Cant go wrong with a hammer n screw driver, useful for many jobs

Noooooooo, Mike have a look here

https://www.abbeybiketools.com/collections/tools

And at a Snap-on catalogue, these are great things of beauty, nice tools are one of life’s joys.

Nice tools BDS!
Titanium gear alignment tool...sold out!!!
Are boners carrying them in with the onboard toolkit??
They even have a Ti hammer for getting those pesky pegs in!!
Too spendy for most!

Damn, I was going to buy one of their $325 Ti Hanger tools as well. Will have to make do with my £20 Lifeline one which is actually easier to use than the Park tools one.

The postie delivered an x-tools hanger tool today and I got to work. First thing I did was replace the silly o-rings with some thumb screw stops from an old helping hand solder clamp. Although it was visually straight it was about 15mm out vertically and half that horizontally.

Bloody hell! What a difference 12 speed is very sensitive to adjustments due to the smaller tolerances, I’m shocked at the improvement. Changing up, especially in the lower half of the block is practically silent, there’s just a change in cadence I’d definitely recommend having this tool in the box, it’s definitely a good investment.

Now where's the "I told you so" smiley