I love the scale from park tool to whistlindiesel!

The lingering agony of sticking yourself with frayed cables deserves more recognition

The brake rotor one hits home for me. I was cleaning my bike and was well aware of the dangerous pinch point. Even just with a slight rotation in the wheel, the rotor gobbled up my cleaning cloth and pulled in my finger tip with it. The rotor sliced the tip of my finger, cut THROUGH the finger nail, and bounced off the finger bone. Luckily I could get stitches and didn't lose any finger bits or feeling in the finger. That's how I learned that it's possible to get your fingernail sewn back together with stitches

One great safety tip is when using a wrench, it's always better to pull then to push. Saves your knuckles if you slip.

Always make sure when you are done repairing your bicycle, to tighten up all the bolts

As a CNC machinist, I learned very quickly that anything that moves or spins CAN AND WILL cut you.

Safety glasses are a must when working with anything under pressure. This includes hydraulic brakes and suspension. DOT 5 in the eyeball is no joke.

Whenever you hear someone refer to fingers as "fingies" you know they have a baby at home😆

In the industry we call all of those "Near Miss" incidents. Just because someone didn't get hurt doesn't mean they couldn't have been hurt and we have the opportunity to learn and adapt our approach to the work/job to avoid having an actual Hit/Injury event.

I'm happy that you started with disc brakes vs. fingers lol. I cut off the tip of my thumb while working on my bike. I also was truing the wheel and accidentally put my thumb in. It cut 75% of the way through and cracked the tip of my thumb bone. They had to put stitches through my fingernail with a fish hook looking needle and I lost some feeling. Definitely avoid this!!! I've also burned myself on hot brakes. So I am much more cautious with the brakes now lol

On my first disc brake bike, after a particularly good fall, I went to straighten my bars by straddling the front wheel and twisting the handlebars. 10 years later, I still have remnants of the imprint from my rotor branded into my calf.

@5:50 also when removing a seized chain ring, be aware of where gravity and the force with which you're hitting will send it. A stock 3x steel chainring with integrated cranks came down right on a vein near my ankle. I knew i had f'd up, but when I saw the squirt and my sock filling up, I really knew I just learned a valuable lesson😀

Add on to letting air out of your suspension when servicing: watch out for presure in the oil chamber I got a shock used for cheap and since it wasn't serviced in a long time I went and thaugt of letting air out first and when I got to open the oil chamber I just opened it and the upper part of the sock flew across the room . I tried to clean the oil up as good as I could but there's still a mark of it on the ceiling.

Can confirm brake disc of doom. We're #1/2! I was cleaning the bike upside down and the wheel was spinning slowly from the hose spray. Left it spinning as I was cleaning the frame and BANG! the three stages were "Oh man that hurts"....."oh crap I'm bleeding"....oh Jesus IT'S MOVING! Sucker could flap around like a muppet head. 5 hours in the ER, x-rays, three stitches. 10 months later it still feels weird. It crushed the bone but that healed. They even saved the finger nail, although I had to go through the dead cut one falling off. WATCH OUT FOR DISC BRAKES!

I've never hurt myself working on my bike, but I've seen some real injuries working on cars. Probably the most significant was when I had to take my coworker to the hospital after he tried to disassemble an AC system without discharging it first, and blasted himself in the face with 200 PSI of toxic refrigerant. Stay safe y'all!

Remember that one of your pedals is left hand thread. A number of years ago I was breaking down my mountain bike to package it for a flight. I thought one of my pedals was just SUPER tight. I put a trolley jack handle on my 15mm wrench to get some extra leverage... pulling towards my face (duh) I snapped the wrench and hit myself in the eyebrow with the jack handle with all my strength...nearly passed out, bled a decent amount and still carry the scar....

I'm just happy to see the pup get a treat in the name of safety.

This was great. General shop/tool safety is a critical life skill that translates into many other areas. My first lessons in safety came not from bikes, but from cars. My father was a mechanic and **constantly** hounded me to "watch my hands" when doing anything. Thankfully I've never seriously injured myself, but I've busted my fair share of knuckles punching metal when not being careful. Basically, I try to ask myself: "where are my hands going to go if my tool slips?" and let that guide how I choose and position a tool, apply torque (and how much), etc.. Also, be very wary of spinny things. They will hurt you before you realize what happened.

My worst injury was when I was bikepacking. I have a 2x11 drivetrain and the chain was in the inner position in the front, had to do something with the bike, dont even remember what and it started falling down. Mind you, I had like 30 kgs of stuff on the bike. So when it fell, I tried to stop it from falling , leg went on the other side of the bike between the wheels and the front chainring squeezed into my shinbone. Got lucky cause i had no infection or anything and didnt even go to the hospital, but I had to clean the wound for about a month while cycling to southern Italy. And now I got a nice souvenier from my first bikepacking trip, along with a puppy I found on the streets 😅

The Torx fastener point is a good one - I inflicted my worst injury in a vehicle workshop on myself because a big TX slipped. It applies to all fasteners more broadly, and the special tools we get for bike stuff. Ask yourself how much force you're putting into (say for example) a cassette or BB tool, and where that force is going to go if it slips. Also, be careful lifting a bike up into a stand. Inflicting an injury on your shoulder or back is a royal PITA, and will stop you riding.

3:15 oh boy, got my first fullsuspension bike this week and as you said, during setup I pinched my fingers between the frame and the linkage… it was more humiliation than hurt, but from now on I‘m gonna be pretty careful when fiddeling on my bikes suspension👍

Seth is so entertaining 😂

Great tips Seth. After 30+ yrs wrenching on MTB’er, I JUST took a fingertip off doing the manual caliper adjust, just like you said. It’s extremely dangerous.😮 Bridging the open spaces with thin aluminum might be safer and help dissipate heat better. Ok boys, there’s your next $million dollar idea.👍😉

This is basically a “I’m doing it so you don’t have to” video 😂

Always be careful when servicing forks, because sometimes there is pressure where it shouldn't be. I was servicing a relatively old fork with a Motion Control damper, when I noticed that there was pressure built up in the damper and it was pushing out the shaft. I started to unscrew the compression damper assembly, as there was no other way to vent the pressure. When it stopped hissing, I assumed there was no pressure left, but the suspension oil was probably sealing the threads, because when I continued, it shot the whole compression damper out, left a little dent in the ceiling and made a mess. I was fine, if I had been a little less careful, it could have ended badly. I had read all the manuals, but it wasn't mentioned anywhere that there could be pressure in damper side of the fork.

I would also like to mention that if pedals are threaded into a crank - ALWAYS tighten them. That is to say, don't get side tracked and say "I'll tighten them later" because if you go out to test ride the bike, that finger tight pedal will likely come off and if you are standing up on the pedals you can come down on the top tube very hard or even inadvertently turn the bars as you go down and core sample yourself. Have had it happen and made sure to check pedals on any bike someone else built before I test ride.

This brings back memories!! A friend cut half a finger off with the chain and sprocket on a BMX. In the early days of disk brakes, I've also caught my fingers in them. I remember when the Hayes disk brakes just came out and no one really knew how to bleed them. We had a tech trying to bleed the brakes and the hose came off the bleed nipple while he was squeezing the syringe. He ended up taking a full syringe of DOT fluid in the eye.

I work in a shop and one of our mechanics blew a tubeless road tire off the rim at around 100 psi. It rung through the whole shop. No one got hurt, but definitely had some potential damage.

Worst case I had? just retuning my brakes as a kid, went at a slow speed to test thefront and back induvidually and see how responsive they were after fiddling - even at such a slow speed, the front brake sent me straight over the handlebars and would've sent my skull into the road; I'm thankful to this day I'd left my helmet on while i was fiddling around because it would have been bloody otherwise 😅

This is a great video! Another one I’d add is to be careful not to touch the disc brake rotors after a long descent. I’ve done this once and the rotors burnt my fingers and through my gloves due to the amount of heat generated by braking!

Dropped a chainring and cranks on my shin on the way out of the bike shop. 9 stitches. Good reminder to just carefully handle bike parts in general

Thanks for pointing these out Seth! I made the brake rotor mistake only once and I will never adjust my caliper with the wheel spinning again because of it. I used to assemble bikes at a bike shop which always included installing and adjusting the front caliper. all it took was a bit of speed from the wheel and a split second of not being aware of my fingers position and it split my finger in two. I nearly lost the tip of my finger but luckily did not break the bone and only lost the fingernail. The finger still has some nerve damage from this. Since then, I made a point to tell anyone new who started building bikes about this danger and to not put their fingers near the rotor when it was spinning. Just like power tools: all it takes is a minor lapse in judgement and you can end up with a permanent injury. Glad you are making people aware of the dangers of bike maintenance!

I experienced literally everything you mentioned.

Hi Seth! Just wanted to confirm that I didn’t let all the air out of my fork once and the cap did explode of the top of the fork at near to terminal velocity! 😂

Ive been binging these videos like crazy trying to kill anxiety over a new job. Thanks Seth 🙏🙏

Depending on what I'm doing, I wear mechanics gloves not just rubber gloves (some repairs require fine motor skills that you lose when wearing the gloves). Lots of scraped knuckles while working on cars finally got me to wear them.

The ballistic gel hand looks like anakins Hand and from the end of Star Wars episode three doesn't it! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Loosening a casette is always a hot contender for hurting your knuckles. Helps to fix the wheel between your legs and apply pressure downward with enough clearance.

Shop mechanic here - letting the air out of your fork is more important when servicing your air spring. I’ve forgotten that before and holy cow does that thing come out fast. 100psi behind an aluminum rod is something to behold - I’m lucky to be alive. Also on pedal removal - have the bike upright, rotate pedal in question to forward position, put tool on pedal also pointing forward. Put foot on pedal with all your weight on pedal. Pull up on tool HARD. Not only does this ensure your fingies are nowhere near anything that you can punch but there’s a TON more force and makes removing stubborn pedals very very easy.

While working on my bike I had it in the repair stand, clasped in by the seat post. I did not realize the clamp that kept the bike from rotating back and fourth needed to be tightened. Standing behind the bike, bending over slightly, I took my rear wheel off and the bike, now heavier in the front, took a nose dive. The part of the frame where the seat stay meets the chain stay hit me sqaure in my front tooth. This was a heavy, steel bike too. Thankfully it didn't knock my tooth out, or loose. It hurt just enough for me to learn my lesson. Tighten all the clamps on your repair stands fellas!

I learned the brake rotor thing the hard way a month ago. Thankfully I didn't get too hurt. My finger nails are still screwed up though.

Half way in and so far I've hurt myself via every method mentioned.... I suspect the trend will continue for the rest of the video :)

Honorable mention to spokes. I was in the park with a vintage bike when the shifting got messed up. I lifted the bike off the ground grabbing it from the chain stay, i spin the wheel to check the shifting and because the barrel adjuster was on the derailleur, I went for it and almost caught my fingers between the spokes and jokey wheels. So be aware of the spokes!!!

The one that kept getting me was back when I had a Schwinn StingRay. The forks are at a really shallow angle (chopper-style) and it has this big metal plate on the fork. If you grab it under the fork mount (where you commonly grab a normal bike from) when the wheel tips one way or the other, that plate will come around and slam right into your finger. The amount of times I got myself with that while converting it to electric before I converted it back and sold it.

Worst experience I got when working on a bike was when a frayed cable poked my eye, felt the pain for a few days and I was very lucky it didn't hit anything major, keep safe everyone!

Yep, I've been mountain biking since 1988 and just a couple months ago, I snagged my finger in my brake rotor. I did it once in my spokes about 30 years ago. It happens, folks!

My little brother (4 yrs old) turned the wheel of a 29 and put his finger between disk rotor and frame... the worst day i could remember, he almost lose his nail matrix. Luckly he recoreved pretty well and now he know this is dangerous. Nice advice Berm! thanks for sharing

Best channel on KZfaq. Seth, you make everything interesting. Thank you.

Seth: "I don't think I have a bad safety record." Also Seth: "Let me show you the numerous ways I've been hurt."

I’ve never seen him so safe

Wow, good thing you mentioned the risk of injury due to the rotors! One time I was being careless while adjusting a client's caliper at my dad's shop and stuck my pointer finger in but as a matter of luck, the disc didn't cut completely through. It got stuck in the nail right above the bone and only some meat was left hanging. I got away just with some stitches!

Experienced bike enthusiast here. Even still, I detonated my tire literally days before you posted your old video. I blew off the cassette 20 feet and the pawls out of the hub. Sounded like a bomb went off. It unseated a DH casing tire with cushcore in the blink of an eye!! It was violent! Many doubted it could cause that carnage until I showed them your video a few days later 😂😂 What a coincidence. What a memory.

I may or may not have stuck my hand in my disc brake out of “curiosity” (lack of common sense) when I was in middle school. let’s just say I will NEVER do that again 😂

love the videos! one suggestion is that maybe you could post raw riding videos. no commentary, just you being you. A lot of riders I know are impressed with your abilities on the bike so it would be entertaining to watch. Not to mention free content if you decide to ride. Again keep up the good work, I assume it must be challenging to juggle between family and 3.5M strangers across both channels.

Always know where your hand is going to go when that bolt finally breaks loose. Learned this more working on my car than my bike, but still.

I've done pretty much all of these things to some degree over the last 20 years, mostly when I was like 14 lol. One thing to be mindful of is that some air shocks and forks have multiple reservoirs (connected by tiny channels that can clog), and occasionally you'll empty the main and there will still be high pressure in the res. Cycle the shock a few times when letting the air out. Also, for the underinsured, keep super glue in the shop for relatively minor, clean cuts that should have stitches- it's the same thing they would use if you went to the ER.

Safe? No that’s not allowed

I know that was supposed to represent a Finger but my man parts are hurting from empathy now.

I've been following you since 2016. Never have I ever been not entertained by any of your videos. Always enjoyed them and I'm usually learning something. Maintain your excellence and peace out.

Former mechanic: frayed cables in the fingertips and under the nails, metal slivers, poked a hole in my thumb nail (mandatory ER visit) when a bolt broke free and I hit a rear rack, permanent scars on my knuckles while "reminding myself" to keep the chain on the biggest ring when working on a crank, so many pinches on random things that led to blood cleanup (pieces sliding together, like a loosened gooseneck stem), blew a tire off a rim trying to set up an old rim with a "make it tubeless setup" (never again) and lost my hearing for like 30 seconds and had a fluorescent pink hand for a few hours due to the impact, and many cuts, amongst the things I've forgotten. I like to think of scars as DIY tattoos.

Ok having Whistling Diesel as the bad end of the scale is spot on. LOL!!!

As with tubeless tyres, when overpressuring, they might make loud bang so do inner tubes when not seated properly. Higher the pressure louder the bang :D I changed the inner tube of a road bike and didn't put a little air in the tube nor checked if the tube seated properly in the tyre... So at about 7 Bar the tyre blew :D. The blow was so loud that me and one of my then colleagues heard whistling sound several hours afterwards :D So remember: always put a little air into the new tube when replacing inner tubes :D

Plenty of parts of me got hurt by working on bikes; finger in the brake rotor, almost passed out; plenty of smashed knuckles from bad tool placement; ears ringing after inner tube explosion; metal in my eye from using an angle grinder, while I was wearing safety goggles.

In the 4th grade I got a nasty staff infection in the back of my leg from my bike because it had a frayed brake cable. Good tips Have watched your videos since middle school and now I’m graduated

I hyper extended my thumb trying to break the bead off a rim one time. Tire wasn't even tubeless of all things. Customer was right there and I saw/felt the pop of my thumb knuckle and I had to carry on like nothing happened while profusely sweating in pain lol. It's all healed up and good now :)

had a very budget bike stand just set it up and I pushed the cam down onto the top tube of my bike! When the cam snapped down my finger was in the mechanism! I lost a chunk of skin the size of a dime that day... now id also add watch your fingers arround cams and even the small ones on a seat post or any QR system.

trying to push a tyre lever along a stubborn tyre, slipping and slicing your hand on a bladed spoke. one of my personal favorites

I discovered rear shocks that have t been serviced in years DO NOT ALWAYS FULLY DEPRESSURIZE. At least I didn't have to drain the oil and use a pick to remove the rings... When I unscrewed the can, the oil blew out into a fine mist and rings popped off the piston head. I was also rewarded with ringing ears and whacked fingies.

What a great topic! I don't think I've seen anyone cover shop safety yet.

Seth, great reminder message. I too have blown a tire off the rim. Destroyed the rim and tire and left ringing in my ears for days from the explosion. Tire sealant everywhere which is near impossible to clean. Stupid mistake by me and a painful reminder to pay attention at all times when working on your bike.

Saw Stop brake rotors coming to a bike shop near you. LOL Bobo is my safety mentor.

I was once drilling out a stuck seatpost bolt. Thing was stuck BAD, so I drilled through the screw from one direction, but couldnt get all the way through, so I went at it from the other side, without noticing I was using my thump to brace against the seatpost clamp. The drill bit hooked into the screw, which now had a super sharp and hollow point, and drilled the screw straight into my thumb. Stopped on bone but took a nice core sample of the thumb.

It's always very nice that someone's been through countless painful experiences so that the audience can learn from them. It's just too bad it had to be you and not the majority learning.

i switched pedals today and just when i was about to start releasing the pedals i remembered the tip you gave in the vid about puting your chain on the largest cog and it saved me from an injury cause my wrench slipped in the middle on the release 😅 thanks for the tip

🤦🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️😆😆😆 Seth, you, you're content and your style bring joy to my life. I'm sorry ppl today are just 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ but never stop doing you fam. 🤣🤣 Can't wait to get a mtb again

Cut off my finger last year in a rear brake rotor in the shop....the thumbnail hit home. Literally exactly what happened in the first B-roll 🤣 Big early 2000s 203mm rotor, reached around to manually close the caliper before I had hooked up the cable. Now I make sure I do the brake cables first instead of the shift cables

Excellent tips. I used to wrench for a local bike shop in the late Nineties and had my share of repair related cuts and bruises. I forgot to let the air out of a Cannondale Headshock and let me tell you there was no warning. Just BANG and a face full of oil. Never made that mistake again.

The zip tie wrench extension was great. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the ride

Working in a bike shop, I would regularly get poked with frayed cables. Once, my thumb swelled up and throbbed for 3 days. Sleep was impossible, it hurt so much. I had a red streak (sepsis) that ran 1/2 way up my arm. I was young and dumb, but I wish I'd understood how serious it was. Fill out the L&I forms and go to the doctor.

You're right about taking the battery out. My Flyer E-bike has a highly sensitive sensor. The moment I place my foot on one of the pedals, and let the weight of my foot rest on the pedal that is facing forward, The motor engages. That will only happen when the crank is facing forward. I know that most E-bikes these days are protected to prevent this to happen.

Surprised you didn’t talk about the repair stand and how it can fail you sometimes. I have a cheap repair stand. While working on my bike one day, the rotation knob wasn’t tight enough (tbh it was pretty tight already) and the bike swung down and the handlebars hit me in the head. Luckily I just got a small bruise but still it hurt a lot. Lesson learned: make sure to buy a good quality stand and make sure the bike properly secured on the stand.

When working on disc rotors I should get out my mechanix gloves, got it thanks! Worst I got hurt was on my car trying to take the shock apart. Broke a allen key off into my finger had to go get it stitched up, toom months to get feeling back. I wish I was wearing those gloves that day.

Glad to see that you put WD at the top of the scale. Only seen a couple of his videos and only made it a couple minutes in on those and have not watched anymore. Saw all I needed to.

The thing that gets me in our shop is the shelf by the workstand - I’ve hit my head on it dozens of times - the main business is bike hire so getting as many bikes in the small building is the priority and the workshop area is stuffed in a corner and you need shelves by the stand…

I'm amazed how you nailed each and every stupid things I've done on working on my bike.

Oh the chainring one made me remember one of my worst injury from my childhood and a good point against 3X setups: My right feet slipped down from the pedal and went across to the other side between the wheels, I didn't go over it with the rear wheel, but the chain was on the smallest ring, so instead I just punctured my calf in a nice straight line with the biggest ring. My favourite thing is that the plastic protector that I always hated and tought it was useless was still on the ring that supposed to prevent stuff like this. That was the most I have bled ever, ruined my sock and shoe, but fortunately it was nothing serious. Amazingly after some moths-years there was no scars visible (considering that it was a deep oily wound).

I have had an air cap fly off hard enough to make a bang and put a small dent in my drywall. It was on a relatively recent Manitou mattoc comp (2019 or 2020 model year I think). I let most of the air out with a shock pump but apparently there was still some residual. Now I know you're supposed to let the rest out by depressing the valve pin with a small tool after you get the majority out with a shock pump. I'd guess it depends on where the o-ring is situated. If it's still sealing in the air when you reach the end of the threads you get a bang.

Yes Seth!!! New to your channel... dammit i find your stuff super awesome.. keep it up

I have had on a couple occasions an air fork top cap blow off . It’s pretty scary!! And one of the times I injured my finger. Have had other minor injuries in my 30 plus years of being a career mechanic. I find your show entertaining and informative:). Keep up the good work 👍

Thanks, always think what happens if the tool slips, or the bolt shears, make sure your hand does not go crashing towards a chain ring or cassette. Always use quality tools in good condition, I have seen many cheap tools snap or round off, and then you slip. So far I have both eyes and all fingers, but plenty of gravel rash and other scars from hitting trees etc.

Awesome! I’ve done almost all of them. As you say, the danger isn’t always as obvious as you’d think!

I winsed every time that hotdog went near the rotor 😆😆😆 after doing it myself with fingers in the past . Peddle to chainring knuckle smash also

Same goes for spokes when spinning your wheels, I cut nearly to the bone when my finger got too close! Needless to say I learned my lesson. And totally agree with leaving the chain on, lost count of the times my knuckles have “found” the chainring when working on my bike 😂.

When I would BMX as a kid I would always hurt myself cleaning my bike. For some reason once its on a stand I would forgot the handlebars turn. So when I would go to swap side I would grab the bike by the bars, usually causing the entire frame and rear wheel to slam into me.

It was a long while back so I can't explain in detail how it happened but I got a chain ring tattoo on my calf while going over the bars on a trail so yeah if you're working on a 2x or 3x make sure that chain is on the big ring. Honestly if I had a better sense for shifting my front chain would have been up on the big ring since I was descending at speed which would have prevented that injury but you know what they say about hindsight. Not entirely a repair-related anecdote but it's always good to reinforce respect for the shuriken down by your crankset

Dude, I caught my finger in the rotor doing a brake adjustment. I was doing exactly what you said. I was just moving the wheel back and forth, and I have done it a 1000 times, but I was just in auto mode, and my finger went right in. Glady, just had a black and blue finger and a little lost skin.

Highly entertaining, thanks :) I have a special category of bike repair stoopid: attempting to fix things on the move. Last time I did this, I had been trying to set the sag on some forks (that might also be a separate, extreme category of bike repair risk). I went for a test ride with the forks locked out, then stupidly, opened them out one click while riding - Crown hit tyre, creating a very effective brake and I went over handlebars, resulting in four fractures to various parts of the body. Men can't multitask, so riding-while-repairing (or testing) is super dumb... But I'll do it again, for sure.

The mosto useful hack I can share: when you have a simple L-shaped Allen or Torx, against a really stubborn bolt, don’t try hulking it out, instead use a regular seatpost, I recommend 27.2, at the end of the tool to give you more leverage, it makes the job infinitely easier and can be used for far more than MTB or Cycling issues

i didnt know they made cable crimps! especially color ones. what i always did was take some heat shirnk tubing(i do a lot of small electrical repairs and have lots of it lying around) and heat shrink it over, and fold the end of the heat shrink in while its warm and put another piece over it to seal it(first piece sticking out past the cable fray)

1:36 i did the exact same thing but it sliced half of my finger nail off. Be very careful you don’t realize how sharp those edges are on the rotor.