Park Tool DAG-2.2 Derailleur Hanger Alignment Gauge Tool,Blue

Great tool. Having borrowed one from a friend, I could see the benefits of having my own. Park Tool make some of the best bike tools, this is one, for its purpose this is perfect, it makes setting the derailleur hanger alignment so very easy and accurate.

Does the job nicely

Its a Park Tool so it does what intended. Well made and you know it'll work - but there's a price premium for that If I am honest this is a real luxury product for me given the number of times I expect to be using it (despite having more than one bike) but I bought it with some vouchers that were a present I have used it now and although only small adjustments were needed it did bring the shifting back to where I expected it to be So - does the job - but at a price

Checking you derailleur alignment is crucial to getting good consistent shifting. There are a lot of cheaper tools that will do the job a couple of times, but if you want something that will last and do the job consistently then you need a really sold tool and this Park Tool gauge is absolutely rock solid and easy to use.

I fitted brand new genuine Shimano Altus brake/shifters (brifters) and an Altus 8 speed derailleur to a second hand 2011 bike. No matter what I tried, the large ring on the front and the 2 largest cogs on the rear cassette caused the chain to come off the lower jockey wheel and jam next to the lower jockey wheel in the derailleur cage. Although there should be cross chaining noise, this jamming should not happen. The derailleur cage did not look anywhere close parallel with the chain line. The derailleur hanger looked straight until I put this tool on it. I found a huge 2.5+ inch difference on opposite horizontal sides of a 700c wheel rim. The vertical was not as bad, but still very unequal. This was very surprising as the hanger looked okay to the eye. I was able to use the Park Tools video on youtube to learn how to correct this. I used two colours of an ohp/cd marker (alcohol marker) for vertical / horizontal instead of the o-rings included. Don’t bend in large amounts, just go back and forth between opposite sides and bend small amounts. I used a strip of double sided velcro on the rear brake lever to hold the wheel still when needed. After a couple of test rides, the problem is now solved !

Average quality, to heavy and not easy to use

This park tool is excellent, well worth the money, it is easy to use and in my case sorted the issue I had with my sram axs shifting problems as my derailleur was not aligned properly from the shop I bought the bike from.

I had a suspicion that my mech hanger was out of alignment, as shifting wasn’t as precise as it once was. After messing around with indexing and limit screws for ages I bit the bullet and decided to get a mech hanger alignment tool. It’s a relatively expensive bit of kit, especially as it hopefully won’t see much use. I Decided to go for the Park Tool product, as opposed to the cheaper Lifeline one sold by CRC, as Park generally have quality, pro standard tools. I was really satisfied with build quality. After reading the instructions and watching the video on Park’s website, I found my hanger was about 6mm out of alignment. A simple process to get it back in shape, and shifting back to normal! Decided to look at my other bikes hanger alignment too, and found that I was able to get the shifting much crisper by tightening up the hangers’ alignment. An essential purchase for any serious home mechanic.