rear wheel what is that thing called

"woodworking-greg" wrote ...

Quoted message said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the cassette?
I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it. And I am afraid
of looking foolish.

It's called a spoke protector (I think), it's there to stop your derailleur
from getting hooked into the spokes, destroying the derailleur and or
breaking spokes. If you keep your derailleur properly adjusted all the time
you'll never need it, which is why a lot of bicyclists don't have them on
their bikes.

woodworking-greg said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the cassette?
I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it. And I am afraid
of looking foolish.

Dear Greg,

It's a spoke protector. While not essential, it keeps the
metal chain from doing bad things to your metal spokes if
you manage to over-shift past the largest rear sprocket or
something bangs the rear derailleur and achieves the same
disaster. Given how light they are, they're cheap insurance.

The kind for freewheels (gear cluster and ratchet mechanism
come off as a unit) has lots of radiating slits and just
pops on.

(These just spin and last forever.)

The other kind for freehubs (gear cluster comes off, but
ratchet mechanism stays behind, built into the wheel) has
either three (36-spoke) or four (32-spoke) small plastic
prongs that bend to go over the hub where there's a little
space between the spokes.

(These don't spin, and the little prongs break when they
grow brittle, particularly if you remove them to replace
spokes.)

Your local bike shop may have them, or you can browse to see
what they look like and order a couple for a few bucks from:

http://www.biketoolsetc.com

Just search for "spoke protector" and figure out what kind
you need and how big, depending on how many fangs are found
on your largest rear cog.

Carl Fogel

woodworking-greg said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the cassette?
I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it. And I am afraid
of looking foolish.

Spoke protector.

It keeps the spokes from getting chewed up when the chain shifts past
the big sprocket and drops in behind it. Don't be too surprised if
the lbs doesn't have one that fits your wheel properly. Apparently,
the range of them readily available as replacement parts is fairly
narrow. Many people run without them. I prefer to use them if I can
get one that fits...but that isn't always possible.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

Quoted message said:

The other kind for freehubs (gear cluster comes off, but
ratchet mechanism stays behind, built into the wheel) has
either three (36-spoke) or four (32-spoke) small plastic
prongs that bend to go over the hub where there's a little
space between the spokes.

Sadly, the makers of the ones available as spares don't seem to be
supporting too many hub flange diameters; I find that there's a good
fit only about a thrid of the time, and a barely acceptable fit in a
few more cases. OTOH, dremeling the nubs off, drilling a couple of
holes and wiring the protector in place often overcomes the problem.

Quoted message said:

(These don't spin, and the little prongs break when they
grow brittle, particularly if you remove them to replace
spokes.)

I believe that there is a variety of thse which is designed to fall
apart at approximately the same time that the second chain wears out,
so that when the chain jumps overboard and hits the protector, the
plastic shreds. Invariably, these are of one of the designs not
supplied as a spare part locally.

Quoted message said:

Your local bike shop may have them, or you can browse to see
what they look like and order a couple for a few bucks from:

http://www.biketoolsetc.com

Just search for "spoke protector" and figure out what kind
you need and how big, depending on how many fangs are found
on your largest rear cog.

Be prepared to improvise, even then.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

woodworking-greg said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the cassette?
I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it. And I am afraid
of looking foolish.

Spoke protector. Personally I don't like them because they never look
clean, but it does stop this sort of thing happening if your rear mech
gets out of adjustment:

http://www.peeble.com/bikes/nicks.jpg

woodworking-greg said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the
cassette? I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it.
And I am afraid of looking foolish.

The only name I ever heard for them is "pie plate", but I don't know if
that applies to the plastic ones, or only the metal kind.

--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply to: [email hidden])

Ray Heindl said:

woodworking-greg said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the
cassette? I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it.
And I am afraid of looking foolish.

The only name I ever heard for them is "pie plate", but I don't know
if that applies to the plastic ones, or only the metal kind.

No, no, no. A pie plate is a big ol' granny gear -- like my beloved 34T on
the full squishy.

At least that's the way *I* heard it...
--
BS (no, really)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the
cassette? I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it.
And I am afraid of looking foolish.

Ray Heindl said:

Quoted message said:

The only name I ever heard for them is "pie plate", but I don't know
if that applies to the plastic ones, or only the metal kind.

Right! It's in my Bicycle Glossary:

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_p.html#pieplate

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

No, no, no. A pie plate is a big ol' granny gear -- like my beloved 34T on
the full squishy.

Sorry, B i l l, wrong on both counts. Your 34 is neither a "pie plate"
nor a "granny gear."

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_g.html#granny

Sheldon "Cyclexicographer" Brown
+---------------------------------------------+
| Whatever you say, say it with conviction. |
| --Mark Twain |
+---------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Sheldon Brown said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> what is that plastic part called between the spokes and the
> cassette? I have to buy a new one but don't know what to call it.
> And I am afraid of looking foolish.

Ray Heindl said:

Quoted message said:

The only name I ever heard for them is "pie plate", but I don't know
if that applies to the plastic ones, or only the metal kind.

Right! It's in my Bicycle Glossary:

http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_p.html#pieplate

B i l l S o r n s o n said:

No, no, no. A pie plate is a big ol' granny gear -- like my beloved
34T on the full squishy.

Sorry, B i l l, wrong on both counts. Your 34 is neither a "pie
plate" nor a "granny gear."

See: http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_g.html#granny

Sheldon "Cyclexicographer" Brown

Well damn Skippy. All I know is that guys running 11-28 used to give other
guys running 11-32 or -34 grief for their "pie plates" on the back; AND it
was a macho thing to not go "full granny" by using said (misnamed) pie plate
on hard climbs.

This was late '90s newbie mtb slang in LoSoCal; obviously we knew /little/
of which we spoke! 🙂

Bill "I spin corrected" S.