patentcad

Those chrome steel ones on bike in the 70's were epic.

t4mv

You know how bikes today can be made waaaayy under the UCI min weight? Well, instead of taping weights to the tubes and stuff, just stick a steel D.D. on. That'll learn 'em to make them bikes so light.

BTW, Pcad, I like the pic above, especially how they made the effort to cut out most of the steel in an effort to make it lighter.

I'm surprised some enterprising punk hasn't come out with a Spinnerz version of an updated D.D.

Retro Grouch 

Suddenly I have the urge to walk down to the kitchen, steal a bunch of pie pans from Mrs. Grouch, and fit them on all of my bikes. That way I'll always be prepared for a good pie ride.

Bare Feet

Being so new, I had never heard of these faux pas, but the owner of the bike shop did! so he took the reflectors off right away. Then he took off the DD thing when he replaced my rear tire. When I heard the word "dork", it wasn't a look I wanted to intentionally be sporting. I'm pretty sure I'm not any faster, and I like to think I'm not a dork YOMV lol!!

BigBlueToe

I'm definitely a dork, but I don't have a dork disc on any of my bikes. How will I survive the scrutiny of others?

z90

I say leave it on just to piss off the road Nazis.

roccobike

And you will succeed!

roccobike

Pcad, nice Pug, do you still have it?

gtragitt

I don't like them on my bicycle due to the rattle. I prefer a silent bike.

Monoborracho

If anyone has one for an Ultegra 6500 hub let me know. The other day I shifted a little hard on the Paramount, on a big hill, and I heard this xylophone sounding noise. Luckily for me, I realized it was that perfect tinny twange you get when the little inside screw of the jockey pully on the rear DR begins to harmonize with the rear spokes.

So, if anyone can find a Shimano Ultegra 6500 dork disk (I want to keep my gruppo intact) please let me know.

Or remind me which of those screws on that that rear DR limit travel to the big gears.

BluesDawg

Whether or not you choose to run the protective disk, by all means adjust your limit screws properly. It should only be there for extra insurance, not as a substitute for proper adjustment. The process is described on the Park Tools site. If you can't do it yourself, take it to a mechanic.

I don't really think there is such a thing as a group specific dork disk.

Metric Man

They are cheap pieces of plastic that don't belong on my bikes...just like the stupid reflectors on the front, rear and spokes. They also can rattle.

waldowales

I leave on the dork discs and reflectors, just to piss off the young fellers on their plastic bikes, when this 70 year old passes them!

TromboneAl

I guess this is wrong, but it's what a bike mechanic told me in the 70s: Without the dork disk, the rear wheel is designed such that if the chain goes off the big cog, it will fit between the cogs and the spokes, and not cause problems. With a dork disk, and the chain goes off, it gets wedged between the cogs and the dork disk. False?

oldride

I don't have DDs on my road bikes but I do leave it on my touring bike. If a rear pannier came loose and pushed (flexed)the RD inward the DD may prevent a broken RD and spokes. My bikes are very well maintained but the extra insurance is good to have on my touring bike.

Sixty Fiver

The dork disc just doesn't get enough love... it does serve a practical function in some cases like the aforementioned touring bike and I prefer the older steel ones to the plastic ones that have this tendency to yellow and crack.

With that being said... I don't run one on any of my bikes but if I found a vintage Simplex it would go on my vintage Peugeot touring bike.

Those spoke mounted reflectors do have to go though... if you ride any kind of miles those things will f up the spokes they are attached to as they cause premature fatigue and they really don't do a very good job of reflecting. In short... they are pretty useless.

Modern reflective materials like 3m tape are lighter, come in every colour known and weigh almost nothing.

I can live with stem shifters but suicide levers aren't called suicide levers for nothing... they now make these things called interrupter / cross levers that actually work as well as the main brakes on a bike and allow for braking from the top of a road bar.

Amesja

I've got a Suntour Perfect 6-speed freewheel that came with a matching Suntour aluminum spoke protector. It's so light it almost floats away and I have to put a paperweight on it when I'm doing maintenance on the hub and have the freewheel off so the wind doesn't catch it and make it airborne. it's not a real detriment to performance.

It looks cool on there and I like to piss off the n00bs who've been wrenching and riding just long enough to have heard a few things and now thinks that anyone who has one on their bike still is a "dork."

Anyone who has ever DNF'd a MTB race due to falsely-believing that their "properly-adjusted" derailleir limit screw was fool-proof and had their spokes eat and simultaniously be eaten by the derailleur might better understand the true utility of the device.

But to each their own. I'm sure that a properly-maintained road-only bike is perfectly safe relying solely on the limit screw.

Sixty Fiver

When your chain falls between the cogs and the spokes it runs along the outer row of spokes and can cause severe damage... if the spokes don't break right away they will be bent and weakened and will start breaking somewhere down the road.

Sixty Fiver

I have you beat... I have spokey dokes on my mtb.

They serve as stall indicators...

LesterOfPuppets

A chain that drops inside of the cogset will often destroy half of the drive side spokes. A dork disc can often save them all in such an occurrence.

edit: wow, I'm really typing slowly this morning. I better make coffee.

az_cyclist

I just got a warranty replacement wheel from Trek, a Bontrager SS Aero. It came with the plastic disk. I have my LBS perform annual maintenance on the bike (2006 Trek 1500) every year. I have had problems with the rear wheels (the wheel would start to crack and break in the holes where the spoke nipples come thru; this is my 4th wheel). There were marks on the spokes of the last wheel where the chain was being shifted into them. The chain never came off, but was hitting the spokes. This year I may need a new cassette (or at least a few new cogs). I may remove the disk then.

Sixty Fiver

So... if you bought your bike in '06 and are just now needing a new cassette you aren't riding that much and you have gone through 3 back wheels and are working on a 4th.

I see a problem here.

If the chain is hitting the spokes this means that the LBS is not doing a very good job of tuning up your bike... these wheels will not survive anything that damages the spokes as as soon as you de-tension one the opposing spokes are going to pull that rim offline.

If the bike is properly tuned up the chain should never hit the spokes unless you bend the derailleur... this is where the dork disc can save you.

If this happens again or you find the chain hitting the spokes do not pass go and head straight to the LBS and raise hell... I'd be asking for better wheels and a mechanic who has a clue.

Monoborracho

BD, you're taking me way to serious (but I did need to adjust the rear DR) Merry Christmas.

Monoborracho

I never really had thought about that. I took the one off my Trek 520 years ago but noticed it in the bottom of a box just the other day.

Looigi

Think of them as a condom for you spokes. They can now engage in safe (wheel) flex.