retrofit pie plate

souter

Hi,
I know this is going to offend to the very soul all right minded cyclists, but my son's mtb gets a fierce whallopping and I'm forever extricating the chain from betwixt spokes and cassette.
(I know a well adjusted and cared for deraileur should not have this problem, but neither is appicable in this case).

Given I struggled mightly to remove a pieplate in the past, is it physically possible to fit a pie plate without detaching all the spokes.

Leroy42

Wouldn't it be a better use of your time to fix the derailleur, and even to teach the little man himself how to do it?

I mean, simply adjusting the limit screws will fix the problem you are having, the gears themselves could still be out of whack.

cython

If you absolutely insist on this reprehensible course of action (:pac:), then if you can remove the cassette from the wheel, it should be pretty straightforward, as the pie plate should simply slide over the freehub, and twist to lock onto the spokes.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Not sure what sort of pie plate you previously removed but the regular ones simply slide on to the freehub ahead of the cassette so if you can remove the cassette then you can simply slide anew plate on again.

souter

in a perfect world I would of course have him finely tuning his bike and all his little friend's bikes.

But it's a fairly low end mech + 18 gears on a child size frame + getting bashed continuously - I struggle to get a reasonable adjustment on it. Though I must look for a limit screw, so far I've just been adjusting the cable tension.

Forgot to mention I don't have the appropriate cassette removal yoke.

So I'm guessing I'll have another go at adjusting it then see if LBS can do it next time it's in.

tomasrojo

Bike Snob was quite funny on this subject.

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.ie/2008/04/pie-in-sky-world-without-spoke.html

I especially liked this:

Whether you know it or not, once you’ve bought an actual road bike you’ve subjected yourself to a certain level of scrutiny. It’s like running for office—everything you do is now a matter of public record and fair game for the press.

tomasrojo

Sheldon Brown is right, I think, though:

A spoke protector is not a necessity on a bike that is well treated, because the derailer can't go into the spokes if it's properly adjusted and if it is not bent. Bicycles which are subjected to rough handling, however, are prone to getting the rear derailer bashed in, and in such a case, the spoke protector can prevent very serious damage.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html#spokeprotector