UDH on Road Bikes – Future or Unnecessary?

The UDH (Universal Derailleur Hanger) is the latest standard for connecting a derailleur to a bike frame. While it's already well established in the MTB world, its relevance for road bikes is now being discussed.
Road bikes are generally expected to remain crash-free for their lifetime, making a dedicated "breakaway" derailleur hanger less critical. Unlike mountain bikes, crashes are far less frequent on the road.

One major benefit:
Manufacturer independence. UDH allows for the use of different derailleur systems (with adapters if needed), without being tied to a specific dropout design by the frame manufacturer.
If a proprietary hanger goes out of production, conventional systems quickly become problematic. UDH solves this.
Also worth noting: SRAM's new 13-speed derailleurs are only compatible with UDH – future-proofing your bike build requires it.

In short: No. Retrofitting UDH is not technically feasible – the frame must be designed with UDH in mind from the beginning.
This raises an important question when buying a new road bike:

A good comparison is the transition to disc brakes: initially met with skepticism, now virtually no new bikes are sold without them. On the used market, rim brake bikes are becoming increasingly undesirable.
A similar shift could happen with UDH.
Since retrofitting isn’t an option, choosing a frame with UDH now may save headaches down the line – especially regarding resale value.

As of 2025, only a few manufacturers offer traditional road bike frames with UDH support. Examples include:
Cervélo, Trek, Standert, Ridley
Brands working closely with SRAM are likely to adopt the UDH standard more quickly than those aligned with Shimano – but the overall direction is clear:
The trend is moving toward UDH.
No manufacturer wants to lock their customers into a single drivetrain brand (SRAM, Shimano, or Campagnolo). Broad compatibility is becoming a key selling point.

Anyone buying a new road bike today should consider UDH – not just for future drivetrain compatibility, but also for spare part availability and greater flexibility in building and maintaining the bike.