On the road bike is a metal spoke protector, it's a little beat up. Do I

1) Keep it as is with the patina in place
2) Beat it back straight with a persuader then put it back.
3) Don't bother with it.

Ditch the Dork Disc !!!!

Toss it. Unless it has historic and cultural value in the linage of a great TdF contender. If so, then I'd save it.

Need pics of bike and pie plate.

I'm keeping this one...low to no miles wheelset

I always though the clear plastic ones are Dork Discs, the metal ones, are Pie Plates. If it was a Sekine then I would definitely keep it, this one is on the Raleigh and looks kinda plain until you spin the wheel and see there is a big wow in it....

Keep it only if its Campagnolo!

They are all Dork Discs

All joking aside, I prefer the look of no disc....... You can have this one if you like.....

Hmm, pie plate:



Neal

Dork disk rules:

1. If the disk is bent, get rid of it.
2. If the RD isn't bent, and it goes into the spokes, adjust the low limit screw.
3. If the RD goes into the spokes and it's adjusted so that the upper jockey wheel is lined up with the lowest cog, you have a bent hanger or RD. Replace or align as necessary.
4. If nothing has worked yet, your freewheel cogs are bent. Replace freewheel.
5. If the RD still winds up in the spokes you have a crappy bike - or you are a crappy mechanic.

In short, a good mechanic should get any half-decent bike to work as intended without a dork disk.

-Kurt

You save these??

I hang mine on the wall in the garage.

Is this thread making anyone else hungry?

mmmmmm, pie.

I love pie

You mean, you don't?!

Neal

I save these on the wheels.... where in my opinion they belong. To each their own.

If it's messed, I clean or replace with another.

For me it depends on the bike, if it's an old Varsity, they don't look right without that huge chrome plate. If your talking about a higher end bike, then I may toss it or just install a small clear one to protect the spokes in the event of an over shift. The make and model of the derailleur also might make me install one too, if your running a derailleur that's known to go into the spokes when in failure mode, then it that pie plate may save your wheel.
Some derailleurs like the Suntour Mountech come to mind in this case.

Many of the pie plates I encounter are cracked and/or yellow. The metal ones are dirty / greasy / rusty and heavy. If I can remove the freewheel for cleaning I toss the pie plate. Removing kickstands, suicide levers, kick plates, and even water bottles makes for a cleaner looking bike and better sale price. I usually offer to throw in the bottle cage with the sale.

Unless the bike is in "showroom new" condition (dork disk, full reflector kit, etc) and it's going to be a museum piece, toss it. It's just insurance against clueless riders with bent/misadjusted derailleurs, and that's what you'll look like using one.

SP
Bend, OR

The only bike in my fleet that I've kept the pie plate on is my '74 Raleigh Super Tourer. There's just something about that big 'ol Huret disk matched with a Jubilee RD.



Neal

I have them on some bikes, and should have them on all of them. Between bad roads, chipmunks suiciding into the rear meck, and even the occasional human error, me looking like a dork beats gnawed up spokes. There are many other more legit things that I can be mocked for. My dork disk is not one of them.

I don't really care a whole lot what others think, if someone doesn't like how I've got a bike set up then they are free to offer to buy it and if successful then they can set the bike up as they see fit.

As to the OP's bike I have to ask what the intended use of the bike is. If it will be sold then I'd say keep or repair the disk or find a replacement for the bike. If the bike is a keep but will be left parked in public places and left unattended in public or company bike racks where the derailleur might get bumped and the OP might then unaware of the new misalignment of the hanger might shift into the big cog and suddenly find the chain playing games with the spokes thereby causing him panic as he realizes something is amiss, in this case as well keep the disk IMHO.

But if the OP just wants to run the rear hub and spokes unprotected and is willing to take the risk by ensuring his mechanical skills are sufficient and if the components are as well sufficient to remain in tune then I'd offer to suggest that the OP is free to do as he chooses.

As to pie, had a slice yesterday, Macadamia Cream, kind of rich but tastey.

Singlespeed conversion? Go ahead and dump the disk.

What with all the discussion of pie I feel it necessary to post here:

I always keep dork disks but the only one I ever put back on a bike was on a '65 Schwinn Collegiate. It just seemed like the right thing to do on that one. Other than that I've followed Kurt's line of thinking.