Turn the spanner the opposite way to how you pedal?

Context is everything. Left and right must always have a reference point, they’re entirely meaningless without it.

Exactly. That’s what I’ve been saying all along.

That’s what I’ve been saying all along.

I know. You’ve just been taking a stance which doesn’t recognise the bicycle itself as a reference point for its own sides.

Anyway… 🙂

Don’t forget to grease the threads on the new pedals – it’ll make it easier next time. Oh & don’t gorilla them on…..there’s really no need..

If you think you are going to punch the chain ring if you slip its going the right way 🙂

The whole thread makes me LOL, but I’m fairly sure everyone has contradicted each other at least once.

I should also add, this is usually at the end of a long trip, I’m jet lagged, usually hungover on the final morning, and facing trying to pack up a bike and not get the hotel room covered in grease or mud. As has also been quite clearly pointed out, I am an idiot. th whole ‘opposite to the way you pedal’ thing just makes me even more confused

OK, so to conclude:

Bike upside down, Allen key into pedal, Allen key pointing up the way and push it towards the front of the bike.

Bike correct way up, Allen key into pedal pointing straight up – push it towards the rear of the bike.

Is that correct?

It’s correct if you’re trying to fit the pedals, incorrect if you’re trying to undo them.

FOR GOD’S SAKE MAN MAKE SOME STICKERS

I know which way the threads work but I absolutely can’t stop myself from sorting pedals in confined spaces rather than getting the bike out properly and so I always end up smashing my hand into a neighbouring bike’s chainring or something equally stoopid

Can anyone make me a pedal spanner with “stop being a lazy ****” written on it please ?

If it’s upside down in a hotel room you need to you youtube it in the bathroom mirror.

Bike upside down, Allen key into pedal, Allen key pointing up the way and push it towards the front of the bike.

I think that is right for allen key in the back of the pedal ! Doesn’t matter which way up the bike is.

Bike correct way up, Allen key into pedal pointing straight up – push it towards the rear of the bike.

And that’s wrong!

With allen key- put pedal forward, allen key into pedal, below the frame- this is the only sane way to do it with allen keys anyway. Rotate crank til allen key hits frame, allen key now turns towards frame, which again the only sensible way to do that is forwards. Sorted, you don’t even need to think about directions, because naturally you’ll select the right direction

If it’s upside down in a hotel room you need to you youtube it in the bathroom mirror.

Didn’t know you got those sorts of videos on YouTube? Whatever, this thread has made my ears bleed.

My technique: if it doesn’t work one way try it the other. Also works for pedals.

(**** me. Editing to say what I actually do. Pedalling tightens them – so unscrew in opposite direction to the one they turn in when pedalling. Whew…)

I think that is right … And that’s wrong!

But they’re both the same!

Why do people insist on thinking in terms of pushing towards the front or rear? That’s how you get screwed up when you turn it upside down or have the allen key pointing a different way.

Right hand threads. Left hand threads. Stick to those and you’re fine. There’s a reason why engineers don’t talk about “threads where you push towards the back of the bike if you’re trying to undo it, assuming you’ve got the spanner pointing upwards, unless you’ve turned the bike upside down in which case assuming you’ve got the spanner pointing downwards, and not forgetting that if you’ve done both then it’s fine, although if you’re taking an alternative reference point for what constitutes up and down then we’ll have to go through this all again, pass the gin would you?”.

To undo, turn the spanner the same way as the wheel would be rotating if you were cycling backwards. Simple.

Backwards = undo, forwards = do up.

Pedal spanner or Hex key parallel with seatpost. Turn 90 towards towards chainstay.

This works no matter which way up the bike is….

Pedal spanner or Hex key parallel with seatpost. Turn 90 towards towards chainstay. This works no matter which way up the bike is….

IT BLOODY DOESN’T! THERE ARE TWO OPPOSING DIRECTIONS WHICH ARE PARALLEL WITH THE SEATPOST AND TURNING TOWARDS THE CHAINSTAY IS CLOCKWISE FOR ONE AND ANTICLOCKWISE FOR THE OTHER!

I know you mean “pointing towards the saddle” but hell’s bells, man, we got 45 posts in and the OP seems to have come to entirely the wrong conclusion: we need all the accuracy we can muster here.

IT BLOODY DOESN’T!! THERE ARE TWO OPPOSING DIRECTIONS WHICH ARE PARALLEL WITH THE SEATPOST AND TURNING TOWARDS THE CHAINSTAY IS CLOCKWISE FOR ONE AND ANTICLOCKWISE FOR THE OTHER!!

Are you serious? Of course it works. The bike remains in the same spot so moving to the other side means you are turning the other way. And pedal threads go in different directions depending depending on LH or RH.

Are you serious?

Yes. You’re using the word “parallel” when that’s not quite what you mean.

IT BLOODY DOESN’T!

,😁😁😁😁😁

And yes i do mean pointing to the saddle 🙂

But it is parallel to the seatpost. If the spanner is anywhere other than pointing towards the seat then its not parallel. If its pointing towards the floor its in line with the seatpost but not parallel.

And yes i do mean pointing to the saddle 🙂

Yes. Then it works 🙂

Problem is, the OP asked for a way to remember how to remember which way to undo pedals. He’s got about thirty different descriptions of techniques for undoing pedals, some of which for various reasons are prone to misinterpretation, but if he can’t remember “right is right-hand, left is left-hand” then I can’t see any of them being memorable.

Hence stickers. Then there’s no need to remember.

Hence stickers.

Ha ha ha – fair point.

If its pointing towards the floor its in line with the seatpost but not parallel.

I suspect hols2 will be back to tell me I shouldn’t be using the meaning of words to determine what words mean 😉 but…

By the conventional/mathematical meaning of “parallel”, the arm of the allen key is parallel to the seatpost whenever a line through its axis, projected for an infinite distance in either direction, maintains a constant distance from an infinite line similarly projected through the axis of the seatpost. So for each pedal there are two orientations of the allen key which fulfil this: one upwards, one downwards.

Daring to go Full Pedant (try and stop me), it’s not truly in line with the seat post unless that distance is zero, ie it’s collinear, whereby you’d be holding the allen key either above the saddle or below the BB shell… or you’d carelessly got it stuck inside the seatpost—and given the apparent mechanical aptitude of some people here to be honest I wouldn’t rule that out 😉 But of course it can also be described as “in line” when the two are observed from a viewpoint that results in them appearing parallel and superimposed, and many people would (as you did) use the term even without the superimposition business. Which is fine. It’s just that any lack of clarity and the OP’s going to be swearing in hotel rooms for the rest of his life.

😀

So whats a rhombus?

So whats a rhombus?

It’s like a square, except that it comes with a 70-post argument about whether it’s been tilted to the right or the left.

ha ha ha. Thats easy to remember

As above
RH is RH thread, use RH rule (thumbs up sign)
LH is LH thread, use LH rule (thumbs up sign)

I like BB is bloody backwards, not heard that before!

Problem is, the OP asked for a way to remember how to remember which way to undo pedals.

Allen key/spanner pointing to saddle, push to back of bike. Works for both sides.

Sure it works for both sides, but fast forward two months and assuming you’ve remembered it’s allen key up and not down, and that it’s push to the back and not the front, what are the chances of remembering whether that’s how to undo them or do them up?

For me that wouldn’t work at all as a means of memorising it: there are three details to remember and there’s no logical connection between them that allows you to recover any one of those details if you forget it. YMMV, but given how much the OP’s evidently struggled to remember it so far I’m guessing we need a fairly robust method here 🙂

Can’t be arsed to read the thread, but both undo towards the back of the bike and do up towards the front with the tyres on the ground. Get a big bar to leverage getting em off and job’s a good ‘un.

Can’t be arsed to read the thread, but both undo towards the back of the bike and do up towards the front with the tyres on the ground.

See, this makes no sense as you don’t know if the wrench is pointing up or down.

Was the bike on a treadmill?

Get into the habit of only ever undoing pedals while working from the drive side. Regardless of whether you use a spanner on the spindle or an allen key from the rear, whether undoing the RH or the LH pedal, whether the bike is in a stand or upside down on the floor…… the tool will always need to move anticlockwise from your perspective.

They tighten up in the same direction you pedal.

Get into the habit of only ever undoing pedals while working from the drive side.

Hurrah! A simple system that works.

They tighten up in the same direction you pedal.

Hm…

If you hold the spanner at a steady angle and turn the cranks in the same direction you pedal, the pedals loosen.

If the pedal axle were to seize and you pedalled forwards, the pedals would loosen.

I think I know what you mean (the spanner turns in the same rotation as the crank on the same side does when you pedal forwards), but like half the stuff on this thread there’s at least one valid interpretation of the instructions that gives the incorrect result. (Even if you remember whether that’s the technique to tighten or to loosen.)

the trick is to not do them up tight in the first place and a liberal coating of anti-sieze paste/grease when fitting.

my solution = have a pair of shimano pedals to hand whenever undoing pedals – they have tighten -> arrows stamped on them

Get a big bar to leverage getting em off

Seriously?! Wtf are people putting them on so tight? I just nip mine up, then when I take them off, if they don’t undo easily, I know I’m trying the wrong way!