What's 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

Lawyer Tab Removal... A Pictorial

The fork

The tabs

The tools

The procedure

The end result

I took someone's front wheel off their bike the other day, beginning to spin the quick release, and was told - "Hey - you don't have to do that on my bike!". What a revelation. This bike was built pre lawyer tabs and removing the front wheel was as easy as flicking the brake release and opening the quick release lever. I was so used to unscrewing a quick release by now, I thought that's what they were for. No, they were meant to be quick releases. Read slowly, quick... release... If we wanted to spin things to remove them, we'd buy bottles of Michelob. Instead, we have invented bottle openers and speedy bra removal.

I think Ray Jardine wrote in one of his books (and I'm paraphrasing here) - don't be afraid to modify your stuff, void your warranties and remove labels. You're not as dumb as the lawyers who are involved in retail products think you are. That being said, Nippleworks claims no responsibility for someone who removes the tabs from their forks, then forgets to secure their quick release and actually loses it. Nor, are we advocating the removal of said tabs from a mountain bike, specifically one with a front disc brake. Read this article for an explanation of why that may be a bad idea. We're also not going to buy someone a new fork if they end up taking off their entire dropout, or a new eyeball if they put it out with a tool.

But, if you're mechanically inclined, and steady with a file or power tool (which for us comes from years of working on surgical instrument prototypes), give your bike all the functionality of a 1930 Campagnolo.