You know when you grip the cassette with a chain whip and then apply force to spanner on the lockring socket until it cracks and slips – well I always seem to ham fistidly stuff my fingers into the spokes, which is quite painful and last nights atempt has given me a black fingernail!

There must be another less painful way?

use a longer lever – I use a 2ft bar on my lockring tool.

It;

1) leaves my hand further away from the spokes as it’s nearer the rim.

2) means I need to use less force so don’t end up mashing my hand into stuff when the lock ring ‘gives’.

use a 1/2″ drive longer breaker bar..

put a glove on?

stand with wheel in front of you and push down on both chain whip and cassette tool

Wheel off, between legs, chain whip on, lockring tool on, QR skewer on, spanner on.

No need to get your fingers mushed in the spokes

+1 for above.
I use long wrench and gloves. Hardly need any force at all.

Pedros cassette clamp

Don’t do it up so tight in the first place?

Vice

Gloves, long wrench. I often use a breaker bar on stuff like cranks and sometimes the lockring. Dead easy then and at least one hand isn’t going to smash into the cassette.

Excellent thanks! Bye bye mashed fingers!

I’ll go for the breaker bar and glove suggestion.

PS My mashed little pinkie hurts as I type this 😳

Don’t do it up so tight in the first place?

+ some copper slip.

how fat are your hands if they hit the spokes when your removing the lock ring ?

Lockring tool in the vice as above 🙄

Standing with wheel resting against legs and cassette away from you does seem to help in terms of getting enough leverage and keeping hands away from danger zones when it does release.

trail_rat
how fat are your hands if they hit the spokes when your removing the lock ring ?

Ape like shovels with fingers like good butchers sausages

Also liking the vice option, but my vice is not ideally positioned for wheel work..

But in a vice, you’ve still got to stop the freewheel from spinning, so surely more of a faff than just between the legs?

Put the wheel at 90 degrees to a wall so the tyre is up against, stand with the wheel loosely between your legs (just to keep it level). Use the whip to push / rotate the wheel against the wall whilst undoing the locknut.
Trying to undo the locknut with the cassette facing you will end in pain.

But in a vice, you’ve still got to stop the freewheel from spinning, so surely more of a faff than just between the legs?

Depends how tight it is,but having the lockring tool solid in a vice has always made it feel less of a faff to me ,and you also get to use the rim as a lever while the whip is held in place.

you should set the whip handle and spanner handle 5degrees apart from each other.

Then with both hands clasped around both handles at the same time towards their ends, squeeze the handles together.

With no arm muscle tension there’s virtually no risk of slamming your hand into anything when the tension gives.

Same technique can be applied to pedals using an allen key and the crank arm and to crank arm pullers using the spanner and crank arm.

Pair of “riggers” gloves from a builders merchant or BandQ. Saves a lot of pain in you slip.

My mashed little pinkie hurts as I type this

If your fingernail has gone black, you may have a pressurised pool of blood behind it. A top tip I learnt after squishing my finger in a door and making the nail go black was to heat up a straightened paper clip in a flame (gas hob is perfect) until it goes red hot, then push it v.v. gently through the nail. The hot metal melts a small hole through the nail and the blood underneath quenches it before you burn the nail bed. Then when the paper clip comes out the pressure is released and the (majority of) the pain goes. I found out it quite scary when I did it, but the relief was immense!

I’ve had one of these for about 20 years, works a treat, although often I just grab hold of the cassette with a rag and use it by hand, assuming the cassette isn’t mega tight.

Cheers, Rich

Hyper cracker has served me well for many many years, but they are a bit of a faff to fit. Plus I dont think they’ve been available for a long time now. Mine lives in the camelback for emergency use only these days.

another vote for stop doing it so tightly in the first place.

Stoner+1 – I just set handles close together and squeeze.

http://www.probikekit.com.au/bicycle-tools-and-maintenance-nc/pedros-vise-whip-cassette-tool/10772324.html?utm_source=googleprod&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=gp_sports&affil=thggpsad&gclid=COHrmq6C_7cCFSFgpgodn1kA6A
No Chain Whip = No Slip = No hand mangle

All good stuff, although I do wonder how I manage to make it through the day with waht appears to be the brain power of Winnie the Pooh

Don’t overtighten it in the first place? In theory it should tighten under load as it turns in the same direction as the thread.

I always just nip them up, never needed anything more than a 12″ wrench to loosen

Cheapo leather gardening gloves. Good for tasks when a slip will mean contact with something pointy.

Also set yourself up so the lockring tool and the chain whip are fairly close together (12 and 2 not 12 and 6) so when it gives there is less movement.