UDH-Compatible Dropouts

Are UDH and T-Type Coming to Road?

Dear Lennard,

My new Ibis Ripmo AF has UDH dropouts. That is such a cool idea—one hanger to rule them all! And it is so thick that it will be hard to bend. I wish I had it on my other mountain bike and my road and gravel bikes, since I carry separate hangers for them with me. And I have bunches of other hangers from old bikes that I don’t even know which is which anymore. I also don’t want to think about how much money I’ve spent on hangers over the years or how much time I’ve spent trying to figure out which one is the correct one for each of my bikes.

Are there road bikes with UDH?

Gandalf

Dear Gandalf,

Well, UDH arguably exists for a different reason than the one you mention, even though having only one, very robust, Universal Derailleur Hanger (the UDH!) that fits on all bikes is very attractive. UDH is now ubiquitous on mountain bikes and is becoming widespread on gravel bikes as well. The need for such a heavy-duty hanger is less on road bikes, although a few do have it.

First, I know of some road bikes that have UDH, such as the Trek Madone SLR 7, Ridley Falcn RS, 3T Strada Italia, Cipollini Itaca, Enve Fray, and Lauf Üthald.

But why does UDH exist at all? Let me explain Direct Mount, UDH, and Full Mount so everyone reading this can understand the full potential repercussions.

I believe that SRAM developed the UDH to pave the way for its hanger-less “T-Type” Full Mount system. Before introducing Full Mount, though, it had to get bike manufacturers to adopt UDH, or there would be nobody to buy Full Mount derailleurs. Bike manufacturers may have been forewarned by SRAM about Full Mount, or they adopted UDH for the convenience and improved functionality of the hanger.

What is UDH?