It is a good counter-balance to the amputated fork.

Hehe... My Presta-valved bike wheels wear no valve caps... another part that doesn't add any value to me. As a chronic weight weenie, dork disc + valve caps = watts lost! :p

The riders on this forum in no way remotely represent the knowledge, competency or interest level of the average rider. Sure, blame the lawyers, it's an easy cop out. But the reality is that the average rider has no interest or inclination in doing the stuff that eliminates the need for a spoke protector. They're not dorks, they're just normal, average riders and the simple part can help prevent catastrophic problems.

Rock smashes dork disc.
Spock vaporizes rock.
Paper disproves Spock.
Lizard eats paper.
Dork disc chokes lizard.

Scissors confiscated by TSA.

We are on a mission to "enlighten" all riders so they can be cool like us. 🥸

My road bikes dont need Dork Disks. But three times I have injured or destroyed derailleurs and spokes by little branches and brush pushing my derailleur into the wheel causing the chain to wedge in-between the freewheel and spokes. So any bike I am going to take into the brush gets a Dork Disk...

Crash bike during race, jump up, leap on bike, click into one SPD, Pedal once...... Snap! AAAHHHRRRGGG!!!
the derailleur hanger and Der. Angle is not a thing that gets looked at as your fellow competitors go streaming by...
dork discs are being seen at cyclocross events more often... and the count goes up after a particularly muddy race.
my Sirrus gravel toy has one.
the Commencal MTB too.

I wonder if dork discs are UCI legal for racing. A sneaky racer could put a disc on both sides of the rear wheel and perhaps get a slight aero advantage. :D

Dork discs will have place as long as hangers can get bent and wheels have spokes. And especially if those spokes are laced with the pulling drive-side spokes coming from the outside of the flange. "Inside pulling" was the word from an odd cyclist in Boston in 1977. (And our shop mechanic.) I've been dong that ever since. And looking carefully at the damage from chains lodged between the cog and spokes every time I see a case.)

The damage can be real with either lacing configuration. But with inside pulling, the damage is far less. A shortened chain will often get the bike home.

Would the term "racer records" make them sound cool? :D

We always called them "pie plates".

Shiny new rear spoke: "That stupid useless spoke guard is obstructing my gleaming beauty!"
Bent and gouged rear spoke after overshift: "All is forgiven! We miss you, brave spoke guard!"

First thing I remove from any new bike. The one time I left one on (for the first ride) was on an Enduro mountain bike and it rattled itself loose on the first descent. They just don’t look like they are designed for long term use. Cheap looking brittle plastic with those pathetic spoke clips that vaguely hold them in position. Totally pointless IMHO.

Giving it a bit more thought, I vaguely recall SRAM mtb cassettes used to have a built-in dork disc that actually looked like it was designed to stay there for the long haul. It looked a lot better than the generic ones attached to the spokes.

Also don't forget that some home mechanics try to fix shifting problems by randomly turning the L, H, and B screws. And spinning out the L screw in the absence of a pie plate can create a L of a problem.

Because a large majority of bikes sold worldwide are BSO level units with cheap components, assembled by people with minimal skills or knowledge, and ridden by people with even less skills and knowledge.

my schwinn varsity circa 1970 had one. if memory serves, i certainly didn't have tools back then, i borrowed dad's side cutters and went to town on it.

inow. not likes us smarts guys now, huh?

I've now placed an order for twelve ENVE carbon dork disques.

I had to take out a home equity loan.

Ima git me one
https://www.wmsracing.com/wmsweb/med...s/wms-csp1.jpg

I've been upgrading my bike from 1970s and I put larger cassette (9 speed) on it to replace the original 7 speed one I had to spread the rear stays a little to put the wheel in and don't like to take it off unless I really have to.
I used Suntour RD with it and found that I can't shift into the large sprocket because the RD bottom wheel would hit spokes in major way. Even shifting into the second largest sprocket, I have to watch not to overshift with my friction shifters because I hear RD singing on the spokes and know I have to ease the tension.

I tried to tune it up but that RD was probably not made for that such a wide cassette and it tilts towards spokes as you shift to lower gears. The limits are set but If I adjust it properly, then I don't have reliable upshift into that second largest sprocket. I got used to it and have ridden it for many years without problems but it is not a bike you'd want to let anybody else use it.

Valve caps on that bike are metal, back in those days, bike manufacturers didn't build with bloody thin margins, watching every penny and had pride in what they made. I wouldn't ride with plastic ones.

We called really big cassettes “pie plates”. I mean the really big ones, like 12-28. The opposite of “corn cobs”, which the real cyclists used.

I ride a 3x6 geartrain.

I commute every day and don't always have time to fix everything on the bike in a perfectly timely manner. Dork disks are easy insurance. Once, I wrapped my chain into the spokes on the ride home, probably about 12 miles from home. I didn't damage anything, but it took me half an hour of taking the chain apart at a gas station with my headlight for light to get going again.

Some freewheels come with a modest dork disk build as part of the unit.

Lots of things are different in 2024.

dog; you gotta be some kinda Nostradamus or sumptin'.

whoa- i neva woulda thought . . .

my '83 Raleigh has front & rear metal which i may leave on merit alone. we'll see once i get started.

Which points out the pointlessness of your comment.

BTW...I was comparing the past to the present, not predicting the future, which is what Nostradamus is believed by some to have done.