jeff williams

C-mon, I know you hate them, dirty, chipped, useless. If your chain gets jammed between the cog set and spoke... YOU DESERVED IT..adjust the derailler, lazy.

-My favorite wheel needs a little lovin' and is off the bike. THE BIKE. Spoiled.
My housemate..A PEACH...will lend me the 7speed rear from her 'cherished' Nishiki.
Never rides it, I fix it (borrow bolts, batteries, mostly on Sundays after 5pm) claims it's a great bike (wouldn't tell her my rear Mavic + tire is worth almost the resale price of her bike.)

Anyway, too much work to put on a 6 or 8 cog (2 here, both with REAL hubs..deraillers too!!) but I'm thinking about it 'cause...

THE WHEEL I AM BORROWING HAS A PLASTIC PROTECTOR THINGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WAAAAAAAAAHH......MAN.

You just can't put red wall Kevlar on rims with plastic 'guards'.
My bike is 85% clearcoat steel, the handlebars are 5mm thick ALU uncapped of course so you can see how thick bla..bla..

The hub kinda sucks, its heavy-er...but it will work. What am I gonna do?
.......................................................???
-Should I just break it off, do her and humanity a favor?

-Ride faster, avoid eye contact with other bikers? (This includes not saying to anybody, whether engaged in a conversation with me about bikes or not- To exclaim " Hey I just BORROWED this wheel from a friend..mine is WAY nice, without of COURSE the OBVIOUS plastic wheel bla...bla..)

-Ride normally \fast\ don't care how it looks? (the bikes brutal looking anyway.)
brutal hell.....
......Hell, I need a BIG PLASTIC DISK TO PROTECT MY SPOKES.

It feels like it looks like I got derailler problems so bad, my cogsets gotta be like a dog that can't stop biting it's @$$ and has to live with a freakin' lampshade on it's head.

Also, floss your cogset. Other people look there and if you have big hairs, sticks and black stuff jammed in your teeth,..it looks bad.

..gonna need a little disinfectant. Other peoples kids..Sheeesh.

Thanks for the loan, I'll treat it like it's one of my own.

Peace.jef

forum*rider

I don't know what you just said but I take it you don't like the plastic protector thingy.

a2psyklnut

I call them "dork discs", but since it's hers and not yours, I'd leave it be unless she gives the thumbsup to make it go bye-bye.

L8R

jeff williams

it blows the look, the bike has no superfluous accessories.
-weight,noise,theft,balance,looks.

the non-drive side has few perks- view (backsides of cog sets are nice!) and access for cleaning with THOSE things is hard.

plastic just bites. And..they can RATTLE!

but hell, the spoke ping in the Mavic was like having a sub sonar, and as hard to locate as one, riding low speed staring at my rear tire...watching for the logo patch...listening for the "PING'.. SUB WHERE?
under my butt.

Raiyn

What if it were to ummm you know disappear?

dirtbikedude

" I sory As I was riding along a deer shot out from behind a bush and I locked up the front brakes. As I went over the bar into a pile of rocks I tried to position my self to save your bike. The only thing that broke was the little plastic thing-a-majig on the rear wheel."

It might work but you know, if you remove it she will end up breaking a spoke because it is not there.

morbid_fiend

umm yeh i didn't catch any of that but im goin with fourm*rider and saying u dont like the little plastic thingy i dont either but i must say it has saved my spokes a few times and due to that it has massive chunks taken out of it man it makes ur bike look like **** but what the hell as long as there isn't anything worng with the actual bike who really gives and besides it weights like what a whole 2 grams so taking it off isn't exactly doing anything

anyways in the end its up to you im just saying what i think cyas

HaroX2

If you're ever more than a mile or so away from your house/vehicle, and you've knocked the rear derailleur out of adjustment, that little plastic guard may be your best friend.... I took it off of my 1st three bikes, but now it stays on my most recent two.... I was riding with a friend about 7 miles away from the parking area, when his chain jumped over the big gear on his cassette, right into the spokes/hub area. Needless to say he broke about 4 spokes before he could get stopped, and had to push his bike over 6 miles back out.... Now ask yourself if it's still "cool" not to have it on your bike..... It does what it was designed for. Nothing more, nothing less.

diamondback_man

Gahh!! Im all confused!

BlackDiamond

Yea, I too don't like those. But as Haro said they do server a purpose. I prefer to take them off by removing the cassette and taking it off. I have never had a problem with the chain getting trapped behind the cassette and rim, but like others said it is her bike, not yours.

bg4533

Not a big fan either. I took it off my road bike, but left it on my mountain bike. I figure going over a bump, jump or hitting something could possibly cause the chain to go into the spokes.

Maelstrom 

haha...I guess I just don't care enough. I leave it be until I check my cassette or freewheel. I definately don't bother taking it apart just to remove it.

sm266

Man, I didn't know there was a stigma attached to that thing! I've never actually thought about it until now. Damn.

hooligan

are we talking about these? like the plastic disk rite there? not the hub or spokes.

Maelstrom 

yep thats it...

Raiyn

This looks like a second grader typed it. Please take some pride in what you post here. Lose the AOLese you're not on IM.

HaroX2

Actually, I think this is what we're talking about, or at least I am..... The other photo has the hub circled in "white". It's the clear plastic shield....

jeff williams

Oh, I never remove them THAT way, too nice. CRACK!
How come my real wheels (custom or handbuilds) don't have them?.

How about THEM apples. Guess no pro's gonna get a stick from the LEFT.

(never thought of them as spoke protectors?) .....Then why are they not on the front wheel as well where you are WAY more likely to get a pokey stick?

I'm smellin' the farm here.

Maelstrom 

Because that is way less likely then the chain popping up.

And no custom wheels don't have them. But I boguht a bighit new and it came with one. I still don't see what the big deal is.

HaroX2

***********************************************************************

I suppose there isn't a big deal unless the chain actually jumps over or off the big cog on the cassette. It's kinda like riding w/o a helmet. No big deal, unless you crash & hit your head....

bg4533

From that I got the image of someone without a spoke protector or a helmet having the chain going into the rear wheel causing it to lock up and them crashing head first into a tree.

khuon

In my experience, they eventually crack and fall apart and at best become trail litter. At worst, parts of it lodge themselves into various moving parts... including the spokes they're supposed to be protecting which can result in the kind of thing they're designed to prevent. I say that unless they're REALLY secured on there (not with just three little stupid plastic clips) then take a pair of tin snips to them and crack them off preemptively. On my roadbike, there's a small and well secured "dork-disc" that doesn't even protrude beyond my biggest cog which of course makes it useless but since it doesn't look like it'd ever fall off or cause problems, I just leave it on.

jeff williams

Should make trick titanium ones with expensive laser drilled holes. $80.. naw $117 each. As I type this I think..ya they probably exist.

roadfix

OK.....here's the bottom line on spoke protectors. People leave them on their wheels not because they truely believe they protect spokes, but because most are lazy to remove or break them off or just don't know how and are not concerned with overall aesthetics. The ones that remove them think they're really ugly looking and makes their rigs look dorky. I fall in the latter.

Maelstrom 

I fall in the previous...I seriously don't care what my bike looks like. Dents, scratches, low end parts...if it runs and does everything I want with little or no maintenance then that satisfies me.

As for litter...I didn't think of that, looks like I have a reason to remove it