Kind of like seat belts, air bags, and anti-lock brakes?

Dork Disk: great for Mountain bikes and for kids that drop their bikes down on the drive side. A well-maintained road bike, not so necessary. But manufacturers (& CPSC) don't necessarily know who is buying a bike or what they're using it for.

CPSC rules even affect the shape of your front derailleur and amount of toe overlap. Those rules just don't "show" themselves as easily.

And lawyer lips - I'd be willing to bet most riders, even those of the 41, don't tighten their QR's to the manufacturers specs. I have heard of locally, fortunately did not see, one crash caused by a loose front wheel (no lips) after a jolt caused by uneven pavement.

Yes I had one instance where the dork disc saved my spokes, but was on a MTB used on single track. My son had a wreck and when he brought the bike back the only damage was a broken dork disc. In that instance there was nothing wrong with the derailer and it shifted fine. I'm planning on replacing that dork disc.
On a road bike, if it's a small obscure dork disc, I'll leave it. If it's large and very visable, I'll remove it. I've never had cause to use the dork disc on a road bike.

Yup. ...and oh geez this didn't just turn into a helmet thread.:rolleyes:

Lawyer lips serve 1 function - to turn quick release levers into "not-so quick release" levers.

Dork Disc - there solely to protect a rider from poor mechanical skills.

You think? I tighten mine enough that I have to grimace a bit to loosen them.

edit: sorry about the large type, for some reason the stupid new/improved form does not allow me to bold or italicize quotes.

Seat belts, air bags, and anti lock brakes can all help to protect a driver, even when the driver is operating a properly maintained and adjusted vehicle in an appropriate manner.

A dork disc does nothing to protect the safety of a rider of a properly adjusted bicycle.

Not sure if this is one designed BY lawyers:

http://www.sidiergo.com/wp-content/u...The_Entity.jpg


Or was it designed FOR lawyers? I can't tell, really... :p

I was yelled at for having mine on. It is quite a bit larger than most.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gadgeta...7615736404752/

They are moar aero. Obviously though if they caught on, the UCI would have to ban them. That would cause chaos in Fred-land.

It's a great conversation starter. You can tell the guys who yell at you about it that is makes the bike more aero.

Fail

I saw a bike for sale with the biggest one I could imagine....

+1

A double fail, impressive.

You guys need to lean what the word "skill" actually means.

While I get what you are trying to say I would assert that their stance isn't a fail. You could make the argument that a dork disc could help in certain situations, but then again so would making the wheel out of solid plastic - no spokes. Let's institute covers to keep squirrels from getting caught in the spokes.

Psimet,
Please, PLEASE don't give the lawyers for animal rights any ideas.

are you implying that you can guarantee no automobile crashes simply by virtue of your "skill"?

I'm assuming the "skill" comment relates to braking and ABS.

Clearly even the most skillful driver can be hit by a drunk, or an idiot, and would be better off with seat belts and airbags, in the event his accident avoidance skills are not sufficient to avoid the accident.

And as for ABS, it's simply a fact that ABS braking works better than non ABS braking, at least in certain situations, with even the most skillfull drivers. If this were not true, there would have been no reason to ban ABS from Formula 1.

But you have to admit that having an ABS takes the fun out of driving in the snow.

Next can we please argue about the shape of the skewer (both nut and arm)?

And then after that we can address the "blunted" leading edge of your front derailleur?

Please, please!

Oh, Oh, Oh. I almost forgot about the dimple in your brake's quick-release. Can that be next?

I wonder if Frank Williams thinks the same thing about skill.

That would be silly. But what about the QR cam type, internal versus external?? External seems to be standard, but I heard they are dangerous and internal is better.

Dork disks are making Zipp wheels obsolete.

You're all just bitter.

I would bet though that many people that remove the dork disc don't know how to adjust the RD properly. There will be plenty of posts here again this year from people wondering what went wrong.

This is why you should have to remove the disc by pulling the cassette, not just cutting it off.

If someone has the tools and knowledge to remove the cassette, they should be able to adjust a derailleur. Admittedly not a 100 % accurate test.

Conversely if they don't know how to remove the disc without destroying it, they should think twice about taking it off.