How to remove lawyer lips

[andygates]

Since I'm racing on Sunday, I thought it was high time that I took a dremel to Meatloaf's lawyer lips.  Made a little how-to while I was at it:



The common history for these things is that some time in the late 80s the lawyers beat bike manuacturers into submission over unplanned quick-releases.  These weren't equipment failures (QR skewers hardly ever break) but rather numpty users: Dads who were buying boxed bikes and using the QR as a butterfly nut or something equally daft.  The kids were getting hurt and the parents were suing.  So the company lawyers mandated these pesky lips.

The effect is to slow down quick-release: it's no longer quick, just tool-free.  That's still a plus, but if you want a race-fast quick-release then you want to flip and drop, with no pesky twizzling.  And we're not numpties, we know what we're doing...

...which is mostly voiding the happy hell out of the fork warranty, probably

[Sergeant Pluck]

Good howto 

They are v annoying items and I might just file the bejaysus off mine some day soon. Would you say it is doable with a metal file or is electrickery needed?

[Torslanda]

Piece of cake with a file too . . .

. . . just easier with a Dremel or similar 

J

[David Martin]

Piece of cake with a file too . . .

. . . just easier with a Dremel or similar 

J

Or an angle grinder. BTDTGTQR.

..d

[Adrian]

Would you say it is doable with a metal file or is electrickery needed?

Unless there isn't a clean path for the file to move, without damaging something, yes. Aluminium does clog files though.

[andygates]

You can clear the clog with a stiff wire brush.   

Angle grinder's a bit... keen.

[Ian H]

I'm a great fan of non-electrical tools. A file does a neat and quick job.

Aluminium does clog files though.

If you're filing aluminium then clean the file when necessary with a wire brush. [edit: as sayeth Mr Gates]

[clarion]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

[David Martin]

You can clear the clog with a stiff wire brush.   

Angle grinder's a bit... keen.

On aluminium, yes. On chro-mo it is the business.

..d

[Biggsy]

With aluminium - it's so soft that the job is easy and quick with a small hand file.

Nice graphics!  What was that done with?  Photoshop?

We could have a sticky index to neat tips like this at the top of The Knowledge.  What do you all think?

[Torslanda]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

Pretty close run thing with anything Rover made from 1974-ish.

[andygates]

What was that done with?  Photoshop?

Paintshop Pro, but the idea's the same.  The typeface is Lafayette Comic Pro from the deeply excellent dafont.com, which is the best Marvel-style comic font I've found (you have to drop the leading to get it properly compact, IMO, but that's true of anything).

[andrew_s]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

Not on your normal road bike, but they do serve a useful purpose if you use disc brakes, which are capable of twisting a properly done up QR out of the dropouts. Not good if you are still moving at a fair lick.

[rogerzilla]

I haven't dared take them off the Cannondale because they're two bumps (lawyer tits, apparently) which seem to be little rivets.  If I grind off the heads, the rest might fall off leaving two holes.

[JonBuoy]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

Not on your normal road bike, but they do serve a useful purpose if you use disc brakes, which are capable of twisting a properly done up QR out of the dropouts. Not good if you are still moving at a fair lick.

Is that proven/acknowledged yet ?

[Polar Bear]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

You should see station car park which is pretending to be the street where I live every week day! 

[Polar Bear]

Andy, that's an excellent guide.  Thanks.  I'll be emulating this shortly ...

[Jurek]

Using a hand file, it took seconds to remove them from the Van Nic and only a few more to deal with the Bianchi.

[Chris N]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

Not on your normal road bike, but they do serve a useful purpose if you use disc brakes, which are capable of twisting a properly done up QR out of the dropouts. Not good if you are still moving at a fair lick.

Is that proven/acknowledged yet ?

Yep:

Axle movement under disc braking is now a fairly well known phenomenon in mountain biking. Basically with the caliper positioned left rear (usual place), and a vertical dropout, there is a reaction of the braking force which tends to push the axle out of the dropout, hence you're relying on the friction of your QR to counteract this rather than a completely mechanical stop. Most manufacturers have moved to a slightly forward facing dropout to counteract this.

http://www.cotic.co.uk/geek/#ROADHOG_discmount

[Hot Flatus]

The mechanics in your race support car will be pleased with your handiwork 

[andygates]

The more I do the race fettling, the less likely I am to get a flat.  Fairy voodoo.

[Dave]

LLs are the most pointlessly annoying pieces of metal in the world.

Not on your normal road bike, but they do serve a useful purpose if you use disc brakes, which are capable of twisting a properly done up QR out of the dropouts. Not good if you are still moving at a fair lick.

Is that proven/acknowledged yet ?

Yep:

Stuff from Cotic.

Right, so that's the acknowledged bit (but you could argue that it's just marketing bumf being used by Cotic to justify a design feature).

Where's the evidence that properly done up QRs are getting forced out of dropouts by disk brakes?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Where's the evidence that properly done up QRs are getting forced out of dropouts by disk brakes?

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/disk_and_quick_release/index.html has some convincing links.

[Tourist Tony]

With a Stanley knife. And a boot in the fork keeps them quiet enough to do it.
Oh. Not those ones......

[nuttycyclist]

The more I do the race fettling, the less likely I am to get a flat.  Fairy voodoo.

You have just negated all voodoo by posting this prior to the race.  You are now in fairy doodoo territory.