I saw this while volunteering (running a rest stop) on a charity ride this past weekend, so I had to take a picture to share with you guys. Bike is a nice Tarmac, but check out the dork disc!


Another odd sight was a CF Ruby with this great big cushy saddle on it.

What is that? Looks like a CF dork disc. If you are going to have a dork disk it might as well be carbon fiber.

Maybe they are using it to hide the 34t granny gear they need.

and to deflect attention away from that giant saddlebag

It wasn't CF, it was just black plastic...I had time to examine the bike while one of the riders in that group got patched up. Touched the wheel of the guy in front and went over. It's a hilly ride though, so the granny gear theory wasn't a bad one. At least he has the Team Discovery water bottle though!

The original Ksyrium dork discs were quite small and probably only meant to cover a 23T at most. I have a 12-27 cassette so mine is actually hidden behind the large cog (read: it's useless). But since it can't be seen, I never bothered to remove it.



The later Ksyrium spoke protectors grew quite larger probably due to the popularity of the wheels and consumers using larger cogs (as you mentioned). The latest ones seem overkill.

I generally remove dork discs because many of them are attached to the spokes which flex and break the attachment tabs of the disc thus causing the thing to become trail/road litter/debris and possibly take out a few of the spokes they were meant to protect in the first place. I left the one on my Ksyrium on because it's hub-mounted and is in no real danger of disintegrating.

That's not a dork disk, it's an aerodynamic disk to compensate for the turbulence caused by the cassette

why is that called a dork disc?

Anyone wonder why there is a perception of snobbishness among cyclists?

Mean, just mean. Heck, this guy/gal is out there riding, in a charity ride, no less. And somehow it's okay to make fun of it all?

Hmmmmm. . . .

Floyd cheated. You all worship at the Church of Fred.

You just have to ask yourself WTF?

I know the 'dork disk' debate will never end, but for me personally, I just hate the look of those big, honking ones like in the top picture. And I ride a Trek 1000! I just took the dork disk off of mine, even though it was a lot smaller, and clear plastic. If they could make them just the necessary height, that wouldn't be so bad, but they're so obvious. Why do they have to be so ugly and overdone? I work with someone that just bought a Giant TCR Composite 2 and it had one just like the top pic...I'm not OCP but I told him he had to get rid of it.

My Allez has a rack and trunk bag on it, complete with blinkie on the rack. I'm entitled to "make fun" although my intent isn't to insult. I just saw it and told my wife "the OCP crowd is gonna love this, I gotta get a picture!" and took the picture.

it's generally considered an unnecessary eyesore....

A bunch of bikes have those. Oh well.

It's called a dork disk because men in loud colored tights and clicky-clacky shoes need something they can make fun of.

Its funny cuz its true

+1000

I have a Scott CR1 Pro that still has the big black plastic "dork disc" on. I choose to leave it on only because it bothers my riding partners SO bad.

that's not just a dork disc. that's bordering on disc wheel.

I think companies make them so big and ugly as a hint for the uninitiated that they need to take the damn thing off.

Obviously that strategy isn't working.

of all the things to be concerned about.....

So what's the disk supposed to do?

it prevents the people who don't know how to adjust their rear derailleur from hurting themselves.

+1. I swear I'll become the Dork Disk nazi at some point...It screams that you can not take care of your bike in any way shape or form.