UDH is the large bike buzzword lately – with SRAM’s newest direct-mount Transmission derailleurs requiring it – however Bitter thinks they’ve discovered a greater solution to future-proof their metal bikes. As a substitute of totally adopting the common hanger normal, Bitter tweaked it a bit so they may nonetheless make a light-weight dropout well-suited for small-diameter metal tubes, however with T-type direct mount derailleur compatibility…
Bitter goes Not-UDH for Transmission compatibility
OK I do know, I do know… we lastly bought a common derailleur hanger normal that manufacturers have been whole-heartily adopting, and these metal bike builders determined to screw with it and make one other normal! What are they pondering?
Nicely, what they’re pondering is that UDH was actually optimized for the flat dropouts of carbon bikes. It requires a 13mm thick dropout with a reasonably large 30x40mm flat space on the within and 25mm diameter flat spot on the surface. Transmission derailleurs merely require ~30mm in diameter flat on either side. That’s fairly frequent on carbon bikes anyway. Alloy bikes with large machined dropouts also can simply make that work.
However many high quality metal (and titanium) bikes use a lot smaller and infrequently hooded dropouts, optimized to weld or braze-on small diameter seatstays & chainstays. And so they merely don’t have sufficient free actual property to work with UDH. Sure, it’s potential to make it work. Some metal bikemakers have switched to larger or interchangeable dropouts, rearranged structure of their stays to suit, and a few have provide you with a good UDH-ready compromise.
Bitter’s answer was simply to tweak the usual a bit.
What’s that imply?
Meaning, the Bitter Not-UDH is just about the identical as an everyday UDH, simply with a little bit of that inward-facing plastic higher fin chopped off. Bitter says it’s about 25% smaller total. That lets them match it right into a compact hooded dropout, and doesn’t get in the way in which of their integral rack/fender mount. And on the surface, there’s only a spacer since metal dropouts aren’t 13mm thick.
Plus, not like the SRAM UDH which is half plastic, the Bitter Not-UDH is solely made from machined aluminum. So, very similar to the Robert Axle Undertaking’s alternative, the Bitter one may really supply extra exact shifts.
And in the long run, it’s “100% Transmission appropriate”, since SRAM direct mount derailleurs don’t want the house of the fin anyway.
Bitter Not-UDH – Availability
All new made-in-Germany Bitter frames welded after the center of subsequent week will characteristic the brand new Not-UDH dropout. Bitter says the brand new dropout & hanger can also be a bit lighter than their earlier dropouts, even with the added compatibility.
However no, you may’t simply match an everyday SRAM UDH to your new Bitter bike (with out a little modification). So Bitter will ship all of their new metal bikes with an additional spare hanger, as effectively. (And it feels like you can use it as a alternative to your common UDH-equipped bike when you injury a hanger there.)
Decide a Bitter metal gravel or hardtail mountain bike in order for you vast mountaineering Transmission gearing. Or, now that Pink went Xplr 13-speed, you will get a tighter-spaced 1x race setup for a gravel or all-road Bitter.
