do you flip your bike upside down to put on your front wheel?

sspomer
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sspomer
Edited Date/Time 6/13/2015 9:30pm
probably the most important question you'll answer today...

if you've just traveled to the trail/bike park w/ your bike and the front wheel had to be removed for said travel, do you flip your bike upside down, onto the seat and bars to install your front wheel?

i'm a "yes" - it scuffs some cockpit stuff on occasion (seatpost lever or lock-on rings) but i always seem to have a hard time lining shit up if the bike is upright, trying to balance the bike and make sure axles, hubs and dropouts are all lining up. different axle systems impact the "upright" difficulty i've found. plus i think it's just a habit from crescent wrench/bmx axle days as a youth.

what say you, vital mtbers?



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Dogboy
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Dogboy 6/4/2015 7:45am
6/4/2015 7:45am
Upright for me. Not a fan of flipping the bike over for the reasons you mention.
Nicholast
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Nicholast 6/4/2015 7:57am
6/4/2015 7:57am
Once I started breaking dropper seatpost remotes flipping the bike, I stopped doing it. Then I realized that Maxle forks and 142 hubs are ridiculously easy to get an axle into with the bike upright and I questioned why I ever flipped the bike in the first place -- probably because I saw my dad do it as a kid.
Varaxis
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Varaxis 6/4/2015 8:07am
6/4/2015 8:07am
The front's pretty easy to do upright, but gets knocked over easily, doing even more damage, so I usually do it upside down with something soft like my gloves padding the vulnerable bits. Same reasons for the rear, even though cage lock makes it so easy. I've bent a few rotors enough to rub slightly trying to fit them in there while upright, since I just didn't have enough hands to slacken the chain, pull back the upper pulley, stabilize the frame in the air, and line it up to drop it onto the hub's axle ends.
sspomer
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sspomer 6/4/2015 8:17am
6/4/2015 8:17am
Varaxis wrote:
The front's pretty easy to do upright, but gets knocked over easily, doing even more damage, so I usually do it upside down with something soft...
The front's pretty easy to do upright, but gets knocked over easily, doing even more damage, so I usually do it upside down with something soft like my gloves padding the vulnerable bits. Same reasons for the rear, even though cage lock makes it so easy. I've bent a few rotors enough to rub slightly trying to fit them in there while upright, since I just didn't have enough hands to slacken the chain, pull back the upper pulley, stabilize the frame in the air, and line it up to drop it onto the hub's axle ends.
agreed, tipping over as an issue and even sometimes having to put the fork legs in the dirt before i can get to the wheel has mucked up knobs.
Scrub
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Scrub 6/4/2015 9:11am
6/4/2015 9:11am Edited Date/Time 6/4/2015 9:12am
I'm an upside down tailgate mechanic for most all of my repairs especially putting the wheels on. Like Spomer mentioned earlier I also have BMX upbringings, so flipping the bike upside down is how I roll. Gloves and a spare truck floor mat is my bike stand in the parking lot.
iceman2058
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iceman2058 6/4/2015 9:16am
6/4/2015 9:16am
The dropper remote goes UNDER your left handlebar where your front shifter used to be anyway (visit a museum if you want to see what THOSE looked like), the rest of the stuff on your handlebars is nothing to worry about...
Vegas Jekyll Rider 6/4/2015 9:40am
6/4/2015 9:40am Edited Date/Time 6/4/2015 9:43am
iceman2058 wrote:
The dropper remote goes UNDER your left handlebar where your front shifter used to be anyway (visit a museum if you want to see what THOSE...
The dropper remote goes UNDER your left handlebar where your front shifter used to be anyway (visit a museum if you want to see what THOSE looked like), the rest of the stuff on your handlebars is nothing to worry about...
Well said Iceman, but I don't flip my bike over. Nothing sucks worse than flipping your bike over and realize that your brakes hads some air in the lines and having mushy brakes for the rest of the ride.
supersquid
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supersquid 6/4/2015 10:15am
6/4/2015 10:15am
I usually turn my bike on it's side and then spin the bars around backwards. Then I proceed to drag it about 100' via my back wheel to the flattest spot I can find. Once there, I wipe all of that good for nothing grease of my axle and kick some more dirt and rocks onto both the axle and fork threads. (The dirt really helps keep your front wheel tight btw!) Then I instal the axle and go get pitted!!!
Ahab
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Ahab 6/4/2015 11:25am
6/4/2015 11:25am
Flippity doo dah.
Nicholast
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Nicholast 6/4/2015 11:50am
6/4/2015 11:50am
iceman2058 wrote:
The dropper remote goes UNDER your left handlebar where your front shifter used to be anyway (visit a museum if you want to see what THOSE...
The dropper remote goes UNDER your left handlebar where your front shifter used to be anyway (visit a museum if you want to see what THOSE looked like), the rest of the stuff on your handlebars is nothing to worry about...
True -- I've never run a seatpost lever over the bars -- but an innocent looking trail rock can easily takes care of a seatpost lever, even when it is mounted under the bars. Ask me how I know. Wink
Doctor don
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Doctor don 6/5/2015 5:55am
6/5/2015 5:55am
Flip it. If you don't already have some nicks and scratches ride harder.
kidwoo
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kidwoo 6/5/2015 8:25pm
6/5/2015 8:25pm
I only do it to other people's bikes once I find out they're princesses about their little precious grips or whatever.

And that's only because punching them in the face is illegal.
Varaxis
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Varaxis 6/6/2015 1:41am
6/6/2015 1:41am
Semi-related question, how do you hang your bike when doing fork servicing? I just stick another fork into the bike, since I have a spare and I only have wall hooks, feedback floor display stands, and my 1 feedback workstand. I figured I'd hook the saddle somewhere, but that only gave me ideas like maybe I'm better off having an A-frame style bike storage area.
kev.1n
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kev.1n 6/7/2015 7:32pm
6/7/2015 7:32pm
If I have the privilege, I hang my bike on a friendly tree branch from my saddle and use that as a ghetto bike stand. But I am still guilty of flipping my bike over on occasion which I really shouldn't do since my reverb remote is on my right hand side ontop of the shifter and brake....

spills
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spills 6/13/2015 9:30pm
6/13/2015 9:30pm
i dont. i don't know why either way. it just works to do it without, so i don't. i guess I'm eliminating two steps subconsciously.

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