Altangle Hanger & Hanger Connect Bike Stands

The algorithm that influences my purchasing decisions has been throwing an orange anodized aluminum contraption on my feed for a few months now. Going by the non-descript name of Altangle, I didn't pay much attention. The suggestion was that, It is winter and instead of trying to judge the snow quality for riding conditions, maybe I should be wrenching instead. Well let me tell you buddy boy internets, my bikes are already in tip top shape. You can do away with your influencing and let me enjoy my time in the workshop... The persistence paid off for Altangle however, and I had some of their products on the way for testing.

I am lucky enough to have a dedicated room for bikes, cameras, tools and skis in my house. A partner equally into bikes but not so into fixing them facilitated a room where I can make a mess while working on projects and articles like this. I acknowledge this privilege as I write this review.

The resident Park Tool PCS-10 work stand has been doing a noble job for a few years now. It has stickers from different events and scars from being thrown in the back of trucks for hauling. It doesn't travel compact nor is the most stable platform to work on. When I don't need it, it gets in the way. Did i express my frustration out loud? Was my phone listening? The orange anodized contraption kept appearing on my carefully curated instagram feed.

Hanger Bike Stand

The American dream is no myth for the Smith Brother's, founders of Altangle. They say the product was born from necessity. The solution is rather specific to the circumstances and that allows the Altangle to carve a corner of the market that is saturated with larger brand. The Hanger is the main act of the show at Altangle. The multi-piece aluminum contraption that is designed to hang itself off of the door frame.

At the centre of Hanger is the 4.5x2.5x1.25" chunk of machined aluminum core that all the orange anodized tubes click into. There are 6 holes for the 4 tubes that can mount in couple of different ways to fold down and assemble.

At assembled dimensions, the Hanger can fit onto door frames that are 39.5"(100cm) in width. All the points that may contact your door frames are either covered in soft, textured silicone or silicone handlebar grips that are designed to keep the existing paint on the wood surfaces. However, it's worth noting that grip to grip distance of 30.5" puts the grips just outside of my 1968 door frame and the aluminum rods make contact with the wood. So far, they have not left any marks but continued use may tell a different story. Longer push on grips would be ideal for my use, which I will change to soon.

Without a bike hanging off of it, the Hanger is unbalanced. The weight of the bike locks the system into its place and instills a little more confidence on the whole contraption. On my door frame, the clamp sits 60.5"(153cm) off the floor. This is a good working height for my 5'9" self. If you are shorter, you may have a harder time attaching your bike to the Hanger while holding it in one hand. The multi position mounting of the clamp to the Hanger does allow for right, left and top handed mounting from the seatpost or the top tube of your bike. While I don't recommend clamping a Carbon bike from its toptube, the steel Knolly in these pictures could care less if I did so. Polyurathane inserts in the aluminum jaws of the clamps are paint friendly and can be replaced incase of wear and tear. As a matter of fact, Altangle promises to provide individual pieces for repair purposes which will make the life cycle of Hanger hopefully as long as doors exist in their current form.

The Hanger holds the bikes securely and at enough distance away from the walls. The pedals spin in the door cavity and away from the danger of scratching things. It is as solid as bike stands get and packs away neatly into itself for storage and travel.

As long as you have the door-hallway combination necessary, Hanger is a great space saver for people who wrench in their homes.

Hanger Connect

I was even more excited to try this simple little setup from Altangle more than its intricately engineered big brother, the Hanger.

Since the early 2000s, I have been using these little studio clamps from Manfrotto called the "super clamps" Super clamps allowed me to attach cameras, lights , light modifiers and various other stuff to other stuff for over 20 years. I still have couple of the original clamps I use daily. Before GoPro was gopro, I attached cameras to bikes with the super clamps and got some silly and creative angles on film. When I saw the Hanger Connect was pretty much a burlier version of Super clamps connected by a rod, I knew I had to give it a try.

The idea of world's most compact bike stand sparked good deal of interest in my head. Often traveling with bikes and even more often watching Graham Driedger faff with his settings for an hour before a ride made the existence of Hanger Connect a good fit. In my world, this device will live in the back of my car for the indefinite future. I can pull it out and attach it to a dumpster, a tree or a sign-post before a ride. It will be the convenience I can provide Graham with so his adjustments finish quicker. On bigger road trips, the ability to attach the Connect to the ladder on the back of our Van is a gigantic luxury for trail head adjustments.

I even think race planners and service folks should buy 4 of these and attach them to the legs of their 10x10 tents and put 4 mechanics on the corners facing away from each other. If you put the tools in the middle, It would be the ultimate mechanics tent where the sharing of shelter and tools would create an atmosphere worth witnessing.

Hanger Connect feels even more solid than the original Hanger thanks to the shorter leverage of the system. Once clamped , it is secure and worry free.

Ok now that you made it this far, I've kept the price of the Altangle Hanger and Connect from you. Because they are not cheap.

$340USD/$457CAD for the Hanger

$225USD/$302CAD for the Hanger Connect

These are pre tax and shipping prices too. I can't imagine it was cheap to design and get these things made. The way they fit and lock into one and other, the strength they hold the bike and the size they fold down to must have involved a lot of trial and error. There is nothing about the execution of the product that suggests corner cutting during design or production. You better make sure you have use for a setup like this before you spend your money on it. Once you do however, you will receive a product that is nice to hold, set up and use over and over again.

If you need a reason to justify one of these in the household, tell your partner that it's your ticket out of the kitchen where you do most of your wrenching. If you are working off your bathroom door, just make sure you have another one available to use in case nature calls when you are in the middle of a tear down.

You know, repairs and Brews go hand in hand...

Altangle Hanger & Hanger Connect