Review D.I.R.T. Gear Buddy
This unassuming little piece of flat black steel is a top ride saver. In all the guides it tells you that if you break your mech hanger that's no problem. Just get out your chain splitter, break the chain and re-join it around a favorite chain ring and cog to make a great single-speed! Fantastic, except in our experience this invariably results in a chain which jumps up or down the rear cogs and then jams or seizes up your rear end. You jump off and force the chain back on to the chosen cog again. Now repeat this a dozen times a mile and you can see it's a pretty desperate bodge. The Gear Buddy (not invented by that kook guy in the film Gremlins, honest...) is the first universal emergency mech hanger replacement we've seen.

Review D.I.R.T. Gear Buddy
This unassuming little piece of flat black steel is a top ride saver. In all the guides it tells you that if you break your mech hanger that's no problem. Just get out your chain splitter, break the chain and re-join it around a favorite chain ring and cog to make a great single-speed! Fantastic, except in our experience this invariably results in a chain which jumps up or down the rear cogs and then jams or seizes up your rear end. You jump off and force the chain back on to the chosen cog again. Now repeat this a dozen times a mile and you can see it's a pretty desperate bodge. The Gear Buddy (not invented by that kook guy in the film Gremlins, honest...) is the first universal emergency mech hanger replacement we've seen. The smart thing would be to always carry a genuine replacement part, wouldn't it? Trouble is genuine hangers are expensive and easily lost whilst rattling in your tool kit. The Gear Buddy is cheap, and it will fit a friends bike if they break theirs. If you ride with friends the chances of having the right hanger when one of the group whacks their mech on a rock big time, is actually zero. There's more chance of finding a spare in the gutter than in your tool bag. With the Gear Buddy it becomes quite simple to remove the broken end of the hanger, slip the replacement under your skewer and set up the gears as normal.

The 'temporary' replacement is good enough to last you until you can get hold of a genuine part. Highly recommended.