Mountain Biking - Dork Disk: Do I need it?

You know the spoke-protector behind the cassette mentioned in this thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=49297)? I busted mine climbing a hill doing some single track yesterday. The chair slipped behind the cassette, and it was all kinds of messed up. In the above mentioned thread, one forum member suggests that you don't need it. I wanted to pick a few more of your brains and ask, "Am I better off without this thing?" Whuddya think? I want to get into XC Racing, and I wasn't really thrilled how this busted, non-essential part pretty much crippled my bike.

Not really.

You need to worry more about your derailieur adjustment more than a dork disc

As Khuon mentioned, if your derailleur stops are properly set then you don't need the dork disc.

If you want it anyways, you must remove your cassette. You need the proper tool to do this. Your LBS could do it for you in about 5 mins.

If you don't want it and need advice/assistance is setting your stops, PM me and I'll walk you through it, or check out www.parktool.com and they have a repair step by step. http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQrindx.shtml

L8R

I took mine off by breaking it. 'Sure beats removing the cassette.

Thanks everyone--especially a2psyklnut for the offer to walk me through it changing the thing. (I'll probably leave it to my LBS.) So it won't be a potential liability if I don't have one during a race?

Zardoz,

If you look at most racers bikes they do not run the spoke protector. I've seen them cause more problems then they prevent. Sometimes they break and you'll have this wobbling piece of plastic rubbing on your spokes and could even hurt your hub. I've even seen chains slip over the cassette and damage the very protector that is supposed to prevent that from happening.



If your rear derailleur is adjusted correctly you will not need it. If you are racing you want to eliminate any extra crap that you probably do not need from your bike, and this is one of those things.

http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/slap.gif

BlackDiamond,

Okay, that's what I was thinking too, but I'm new to serious biking and new to racing so I wanted to rely on the experience of folks like yourself.

--Erich