Road Cycling - What is the purpose of . . .

. . .that little plastic circular "guard" that sits between the cassette and the rear wheel spokes? Mine rubs against the spokes and makes a sqeeky noise that has me wishing for the sweet release of of death after a few miles. I'm inclined to remove it (but cutting it off, I guess). Is there any harm in this. I seems to serve no purpose, and I note that some rear wheels do not have these guards at all.

thanks
judd

As far as I know it just prevents the derailleur from over shifting and jamming the chain in the spokes. As long as your derailleur is properly adjusted it shouldn’t be a problem. I used a soldering iron to melt mine off , but you could probably just remove the cassette and easily take it off.

. . .that little plastic circular "guard" that sits between the cassette and the rear wheel spokes? Mine rubs against the spokes and makes a sqeeky noise that has me wishing for the sweet release of of death after a few miles. I'm inclined to remove it (but cutting it off, I guess). Is there any harm in this. I seems to serve no purpose, and I note that some rear wheels do not have these guards at all.

thanks
judd

The proper name is "spoke protector" and new bikes from virtually all major manufacturers come with them. If you ever shift into the spokes, even for just a couple of seconds, you will bugger up the eight outside spokes and they will eventually break one at a time. We won't even talk about what happens if you shift your derailleur cage into the spokes, but it's usually a big pay day for the local bike shop.

Whether you actually need one or not pretty much depends on how you ride, how well you keep your bike maintained, and how much risk you are willing to accept. If you keep your derailleurs etc. perfectly adjusted, you are less likely to ever need one. If you do real mountain biking, you are quite likely to bash your rear derailleur out of alignment sometime so you are more likely to need one. If your's is making noise, that's a sign that something is out of adjustment so you are more likely to need one. The better you understand how bicycles work and how to keep them working, the less likely you are to need one.

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't have them on any of my personal bikes.

Keep your bike well maintained and you won't need them

Plus, they usually look hideous

i just snippped mine off with some wire cutters (just make sure you are snipping the plastic and not the spokes:D). I did this for the exact same reason you are think about...the chain rubbed the plastic and would sort of jerk a little because it was basically getting stuck...im glad i removed it and i havent had a problem since...just as another note i also took it off my mountain bike for the same reason and havent had any problems there.

If you do real mountain biking, you are quite likely to bash your rear derailleur out of alignment sometime so you are more likely to need one.

If you do real mountain biking the thing will end up breaking into little bits all by itself and then you've just inadvertantly become a trail litterer. I cut mine off with a pair of plant pruning snips (shhh... don't tell my wife). Save yourself the trouble of picking up bits of plastic from the trail and just cut the thing off now.

Dear Mrs. Khuon;

The reason your pruners are butchering your lovely roses is because your husband - you know, the guy with the bike thing - has been using them to cut plastic thingys on his bikes. Now, you know and he knows that this is not the proper use for this tool as it damages the blades and makes you and your Azealias unhappy.

I have several recommendations for recourse. You may:

1. Contact any of his 7th grade shop teachers and report him for misuse of tools.
2. Force him to use the pruners to cut his toenails.
3. Borrow any of his spare wheels for use as a play toy for the dog.

Sincerely - your friend and spouse to eternal tool misuser;

55/Rad

Thanks folks.

I never get my chain anywhere near the top cog anyway, so I'm confident that I can risk it. I think I'll use wire-cutters.

Judd

Dear Mrs. Khuon;
....
Sincerely - your friend and spouse to eternal tool misuser;

55/Rad

"Your friend *AND SPOUSE*"
Is there something between you and Mrs. Khuon that we don't know about? Oh boy you're in trouble...

Ok, let me correct that before I get anybody in trouble - least of all - me.

"Your friend, who's also married to an eternal tool misuser..."

55/Rad

I cut mine off as well because it broke loose and was rubbing against my cassette and spokes. Of course, not more than 2 days later, my chain came off somehow, I forget what I did, and it got caught in my spokes, thankfully I stopped before there was any damage.

I yanked teh rear cassette and got rid of mine...but I have a 7-speed "mega-range" cassette, where the lowest gear is freaking massive and kinda works like a swpokeprotector by itself.

If you want to do MTBing and want one....jsut get a metal one...less plastic chips everywhere.

you know, when I was in ocean city for senior week...after a couple of drinks, :beer: I ended up telling a rather surley bike cop that his spoke protector was very unfashionable, and that he was dorky for having a "dork disc" on his bike. :beer:

I've heard of:
Spoke protector
Plastic thingy
even satellite dish
BUT dork disc is the best ;)

I've heard of:
Spoke protector
Plastic thingy
even satellite dish
BUT dork disc is the best ;)

I like "dork disc" too but most often I've heard to it referred to as pieplate and frisbee.