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bike snob was right

to illustrate an article published earlier this week, i included a few photographs of a bicycle currently in for review. only a matter of days later, i received e-mail correspondence from a reader demanding (i think) that i remove the pie plate included in said article. not one readily acquainted with what i later understood to be bicycle slang, i replied to the effect that i had little to no idea of which he spoke.

his reply directed me to an article on bikesnobnyc decrying the fitting of the pie-plate to modern-day bicycles, reiterating this need to have them removed. at this point i realised the subject of this rather blunt discussion.

on many lower cost cycles, fitted behind the cassette sprockets and over the lower portion of the rear wheel spokes, is often a transparent plastic disc. though the cassette prevents this disk from leaving the confines of the wheel, it is also tentatively held in place by circumferentially sited clips which slide over the spokes. it is a device fitted in order that the chain should not have a meeting with the spokes should it overshift the largest sprocket and jam between cassette and hub.

in replying to my correspondent for a second time, i pointed out that the bicycle in question was on loan from the manufacturer and i thought it to be overstretching my jurisdiction to remove items from a bicycle that would surely be due for return at the end of the review period. added to the above, i also was at pains to point out that, despite never having met the gentleman masquerading as bikesnobnyc, i was less than inclined to act upon his new york demands, simply because he'd made them.

however, that did not in any way dissipate the fact that having learned what a pie-plate actually was, i was in total agreement that the ruddy things have no place on a bicycle of any description, let alone one that left little change from £2,000. however, though i had secretly removed the wheel reflectors from the same bicycle at the point of assembly (me neither), i still maintained that it was not my place to remove appendages from a bicycle that would feature on retail versions.

that was, until yesterday.

i've made mention on one or two previous occasions that now and again i find it possible to play hooky from work on a friday afternoon, offering the ideal opportunity to go sup froth and eye-watering espresso. yesterday was one of those days.

i had travelled only a few metres when a constant clicking made itself known as i headed into the wind along shore street. suspecting one of the disc rotors, i stopped to check, only to note that the pie-plate was no longer in the position it had been when new. it is a feature of such bits of plastic that once they've decided to become eccentric (if you see what i mean?), attempting to correct the spin is well nigh impossible.

the long and short of this is that bikesnobnyc, darn his new york correctness, is absolutely right in his assertion, at least as far as pie-plates are concerned. if there's one on your rear wheel, get rid of it now.

this is non-negotiable.

saturday 5 march 2016

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