another dumb newbie question

fatbottomedgirl

Hi,
I'm working on getting 2 bikes rebuilt for some freiends of mine and noticed that the plactic discs on the back wheels are broken. According to my LBS this part is clled a spoke saver, but I can't find anyplace that sells them. I also noticed that they're more likely to show up nowadays on big box store crap than nicer mountain bikes. So my questions are:

Are spoke savers just a cover for a poorly made back wheel?
Would a higer quality wheel set make this uneccessary ?

Thanks!

mofo_iar

i dont think you need them. i dnt have them. i dont even know what theyre for. all i know is my bike didnt come with them. and if you're changing the wheel sets then why do you care?

eric_the_red

Spoke savers are supposed to stop the chain from getting jammed in the rear spokes if it's comes off the inside of the largest cog. If your rear der is adjusted properly the chain won't come off so the spoke saver is not needed.

And yes they're usually on lower end bikes, maybe because people who buy those bikes don't keep them maintained as well as the more expensive bikes.

Plus they just look dorky, get rid of them.

seigneur

strange my cheapest bike has one my two mid priced bikes (£500) doesnt have them and my top of the range bike (£1900) does have one. i think you can ditch them without any problems

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giantnrsfsrider

If you can get the rear deurailer working properly there is no need as it is just a chain guard for the spokes, it is unneeded

Tencon

This is true if everything goes as planned but even a well set-up bike has an occasional glitch!

I am bike mechanic and have been working on bikes since 1963 when my skilled fitter Dad got me my first bike and unveiled the mystery of 'fitting' - the art of assembling fine mechanical structures, making adjustments as neccessary to make the final item work as well as it could (within the limits of the available technology). He used to build the gearboxes fitted to Daimler Limousines (Including the Queen's!) and had pride in the fact that only the whisper of the tyres were heard from (his) Daimler cars (Listen to any modern car in reverse - the 'whine' is the gearbox! ((etc)) Daimlers don't do that )
Yesterday, for the first time ever, my bike threw the chain into the gap between the 34T sprocket and the wheel. It took about 15mins to prise it out again without damaging anything.
I was turning right and in bottom gear, the chain came adrift as I changed from 2nd to first - 24T to 34T - and I slammed the brakes on hard as the chain started dragging the pedals around!
I cleaned the bike a month ago and had overlooked the 'spoke-saver'.

The sprocket was jamming the chain below the spokes so it couldn't come loose. With the SS in place, this could not have happened and I would have got the chain back on the sprocket by gently changing 'up'.

So, a De-raill-eur adjustment was not the problem - it was having a 9-speed chain on an 8-speed rig so the chain was not properly matched to the sprockets and any change in conditions can upset the changing.

I suffer from short-term memory loss as a result of last year's incident and bought the wrong chain, I also forgot to fit the SS.

I changed gear from 24-34 while turning. That is what threw the chain over the sprocket and into the gap.

I had numerous such incidents in the 1970's with 5sp rigs when SS devices didn't exist.
So - 'Spoke-Saver un-needed?' No. It is an almost weightless necessary device to save you from dirty hands and, possibly, injury!
Be smart - fit a spoke saver

artemidorus

I've been riding my bicycles for 15 years with no spoke saver. I've always adjusted the limit screws carefully. I have never once had the chain jam between spokes and sprocket. I think that spoke savers are only necessary if you are not confident with adjustment of the limit screw.

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janiejones

Get rid of them - they are ugly, stupid, and you'll look faster without them.

ilmooz

My first direction whenever buying a new bike is always "leave the dork disk off when you're building the bike". There won't be any spoke jamming if the derailleur is tuned correctly, plus I never really shift down enough to get on the big rear gears anyway.

artemidorus

Then you're riding the wrong cassette.

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ilmooz

I never considered changing cassettes on my bikes since they all accommodate the range of gears I ride in virtually all the time, but that's here in relatively flat Illinois. If I ever throw a bike in my truck and travel elsewhere where it's more hilly I might want those big gears I never use now.

garage sale GT

I've got some nice big chrome ones if you want some style.

In all seriousness, though, there is something you all seem to have overlooked. I have had road debris get kicked up by my front wheel, snag my rear derailleur, and bend it enough so that it snapped clean off the next time I tried to shift into my lowest ratio. If the derailleur hanger had happened to bend the other way, my chain would have gone in the spokes.

I was on a road bike in the city. I think I rolled over a plastic coat hanger. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.

Another user of this forum reported a similar situation, but his derailleur did wreck his rear wheel.

I prefer to risk not having one even on my MTB, though.

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dabac

Of course they don't - Your Dad's limos probably had automatic trannys, which are an entirely different design from manual transmissions in general and the straight cut cogs in the reverse gear of manual trannys in particular.

And guess what - straight gears ARE noisier than helical, no amount of assembly skill is going to change that.