Anybody else *always* get things backwards?

I seem to always have to try five times to get things right - especially if something can be done backwards or upside down.
I *thought* that installing a seat would mean I couldn't do it backwards or upside down - at least without noticing.
My riding buddy from S.C., though, wanted to know why the clamp was on the wrong side (front instead of back or vice versa, as if I could remember which without seeing it)... was it on purpose to get me closer to the handlebars and higher above teh pedals?
Well, I wasn't going to change somethign that was working, especially on a 72 mile ride... but I had put it back as far as I could to get it right. (And it's a cheap Bontrager saddle, though **not** the painful one that would have come with my Trek... I agree that Trek should just stop producing that stuff.)

It's one of those things that will look odd to someone who notices it, but the clamp will work fine in either orientation. As long as you are positioned over the pedals properly, don't worry about it. Unless you tire of answering that question.

You're in good company.:p Normally I just attach my bike to my car rack to get from here to there, but last week, a friend and I wanted to stop at a restaurant after our ride, before going home, so I took off the front tire and locked my bike inside the car. Next day, popped the tire back on. No problem, right? After all, you can't put the tire on backwards, right? :confused: Well, I discovered that actually, I can. Couldn't figure out why the computer/spedometer wasn't working. And for me, biking is no fun if I can't keep score.

CH

I relate. When I put my computer on I attached the tie to a spoke and created a new kind of lock. Sigh. I also have put a directional tire on the wrong way. I am not very mechanical but I am learning. :eek:

I am totally dislexic with 'left' and 'right'. It's wired in my brain wrong, if I'm on a group ride and I have to call out 'car left' or 'turning right', I ALWAYS get it wrong. I have to take a moment, and then I have a think, and if its a warning needed in a hurry I mostly end up guessing, which can actually be dangerous.

My husband gets exasperated, he tries to explain about gearing and ratios etc. using words 'up' and 'down' and I just get completely lost. I am the same with N, S, E & W, up, down, left, right, but I do understand 'forward' and 'backward' and I use 'this way' and 'that way' - simple. When he was helping me understand gearing and cadence, he'd ride behind me and say 'shift up onto your front ring' - Whaaatt? 'Left front lever to the right' I'd just click on any lever or even all of 'em and hope it was right.

Mags...

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Originally Posted by Mags...

I am totally dislexic with 'left' and 'right'. It's wired in my brain wrong, if I'm on a group ride and I have to call out 'car left' or 'turning right', I ALWAYS get it wrong. I have to take a moment, and then I have a think, and if its a warning needed in a hurry I mostly end up guessing, which can actually be dangerous.

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We have "left," "right," "other left," "other people's left," "Susan's left," etc. For the car we can say driver/passenger, but ...

Can you point? That's why I love signalling with the hand in the direction I'm turning. Basically, pointing to say "I'm going THAT way."

SJ

I have put the rear tire on backwards. As in, the derailleur was on the wrong side. On a group ride. WIth relative strangers.

I have ridden 10 miles with a kickstand jammed into the tire. (I thought it was difficult, but I had already ridden 70 miles - on a different bike - and it *was* a heavy Western Flyer Repro.)

I thought my helmet strap was twisted up in the helmet... it kinda hurt... but no, there was a ball point pen in there that I hadn't seen when I put it on. I still have a divot in my head there.

Last year we let a friend ride 24 miles with a brake rubbing - she kept saying "I'm just not in shape!" and I even once said, "Are you sure it's not mechanical? You're coasting slowly, too!" Alas, we set women's lib back 20 years... it took the man in our group to say, "Why don't we stop at the top of this hill and check it out?" (DUH!!@@) and as soon as we spun the wheel...

I still might not have figured out the pattern, but the very next week I pulled in with my car and noticed a low tire and said to a buddy, "I kinda thought it was pulling a little" and he said, "Typical woman. WOn't stop and check!"

So... now I stop and check... at least a little more often! And you say you don't want to ride next to me?

I remember that the hand that shifts is never right next to the gears that go with it, so the left hand shifts the big gear thingies and the right hand shifts the ones in the back.

How many of y'all are left handed? Specially with the directional thing. If you tell me go left, Imma go right, everytime! I'm left handed. My hubby gets annoyed, but I have to remind him that I just don't think like he does! LOL.

Kim

Lefty here! And i mess it up every time! Even when I write, I'll mess up the order of the letters in the words.

I have to rethink several times when i'm trying to work on the bike. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" yeah, but which way is left?

I'm another left hander. I have no problem with thread direction, but I've had lots of practice at that. But why do they call them right hand threads? The threads go in a circle, so you can draw a tangent line that goes in every possible direction. And if you look at it from the back side, then you have to turn it in the opposite direction. When you put a freewheel or lock ring tool in the vice and turn the wheel to remove the cluster, it take some mental gymnastics that strain my brain to figure out which way to turn it. But I've learned to pretend that the wheel is a steering wheel and I'm making a left turn.

Last week I was repacking my bottom bracket. The spindle had "L" and "R" inscribed on it, though it looked symmetrical to me. Took me a couple minutes to figure out which side of my bike was the right. If it said "Crank" on one side it would have been alot easier.

Mmm...not sure on that thread thing! I do always start out turning a screw the wrong way though. Makes me feel like a dork.

Maybe we're on to something here! I have a hard time convincing my hubby that left handers are smarter...hehe. There have been studies! LOL. He's ambidextrous so of course he says that makes HIM smarter than both left handers and righties! :rolleyes:

Kim

i'm a lefty too, and i'm NOT directionally challenged.
My biggest problem is remembering the names for all these bike gizmos
drives Husband crazy. he's always telling me; this is a derailler, this is a camelback.
not a thingy?

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Originally Posted by Geonz

Last year we let a friend ride 24 miles with a brake rubbing - she kept saying "I'm just not in shape!" and I even once said, "Are you sure it's not mechanical? You're coasting slowly, too!" Alas, we set women's lib back 20 years... it took the man in our group to say, "Why don't we stop at the top of this hill and check it out?" (DUH!!@@) and as soon as we spun the wheel...

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Lance Armstrong did this in Tour de France. Your friend was just training to take his place.

I'm very much a righty ... right handed, left brained. Words work much better than pictures.

Had the mechanic at the GITAP ride help with getting the seat on "forward" and now it's more comfy (I like it back further than it would go with the clamp frontwise).

Now, if I could manage to stop severing computer wires... I don't do much better at splicing, either. Not that I wanted to *know* how "fast" I was going in the bottom bottom granniest gear chugging up Mt. Chestnut...

I am pretty vague on left & right. They keep CHANGING depending on the direction of travel. Please give me directions using north and south. Compass directions stay the same no matter what direction you're coming from.

I also have no idea how old anyone is for the same reason, the numbers keep changing on me. {pout}

Saw a sign on GITAP that I wanted to swipe (or take a picture of, but the camera was in the bag on the truck): "Parking Allowed South of Here."

Figure anywhere in Southern IL is legal then, eh?

Yikes! if I wasn't confused enough to begin with, now you ladies start talking about thread, and I sew!

Lefty -- and I have problems describing left/right to others, even if it makes all sorts of sense to me!

Karen in Boise

I'm a lefty and I've always had my brakes reversed so that I brake the rear tire with my left hand. More than once when people have told me they've had an over the handlebars accident, I've asked and confirmed they were left handed. I think that's why.

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Originally Posted by bikerbarb

I'm a lefty and I've always had my brakes reversed so that I brake the rear tire with my left hand. More than once when people have told me they've had an over the handlebars accident, I've asked and confirmed they were left handed. I think that's why.

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That's interesting, Bikerbarb. Are these experienced left-handed cyclist doing endos? Do you think bike shops should ask about a person's handedness and set up the bike accordingly? I am left handed but somewhat ambi and use only my left/front brake at low speed. I'd rather have the stronger hand on the front brake since it provides the most stopping power.

I would ever tell this to any one!

When my sister and I first started riding together everything bike related to us was new and fun. Maybe I should (or shouldn't) mention we were 40 something, d'oh!
First came the spandex, OMG! We couldn't believe we were wearing those shorts with the built in diaper! Soon we found out what a great thing padding was, sigh.
Then we got real snazzy and got jerseys, I ordered mine X-large (boobs) and I hate tight fitting tops, hey the shorts were a stretch but I surely needed a long loose top to cover up my big butt. What are those pockets in the back of the jersey for?? OMG they sure make my butt look huge! No way am I wearing that thing! So I do what anyone who just spent $59.00 on a top she won't wear, sent it back! Scans to long bike ride in the California desert both bottles out of water, no food about to bonk, when it hits me, THAT'S WHAT THOSE POCKETS ARE FOR! Ordered another jersey in a smaller size, sigh.

Oh yeah the back ward stuff.....I got a new areo helmet so my sister ever the competitor fashion queen got one too and we adjusted ourselves, our bikes and took off for a nice long training ride, stopped at our favorite Café about half way on our ride for some java juice and then returned to our cars when she noticed her helmet was fitting funny wouldn't snug down like her old one.....IT WAS ON BACKWARDS! She had worn it the whole ride backward, sigh. Oh and she is a lefty too!

We had so many funny experiences together learning how to ride bikes, LOL way funner at 40ish than ever as little kids. From our cyclecross bikes to road bikes, pedals with straps to clip less pedal, new seats, camel backs and awesome outfits woohoo aren't roadies cool. Who knew riding a bike could be so fun for a couple of old ladies?

...it will be done backwards. Shouldn't the law of averages let me get it right 50% of the time? Sheesh. Sometimes I just accept it and know that I will put it together...see that it's backwards....take it apart...put it together the other way....

I'm a righty. I love words (notice how danged many posts I've made?!@) but pictures really get it through to me. If I can see how it should be done, I can follow that. Then the words make sense.

I always read a magazine starting at the back. Wonder what that has to do with anything?!

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Originally Posted by Lise

...it will be done backwards. Shouldn't the law of averages let me get it right 50% of the time? Sheesh. Sometimes I just accept it and know that I will put it together...see that it's backwards....take it apart...put it together the other way....

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Lise - I'm with you. That part of my brain never matured. I have problems with "this side up" stickers.

I am also totally left brained. Great with words, love learning foreign languages (French, Japanese, Spanish), write well, read a lot. No problem remembering which is right and which is left, but positively cannot visualize stuff in my head. I can learn spatial stuff IF I can mediate verbally---i.e., write down the steps, or talk through them mentally. I had to write down the steps for putting my bike rack on the car, but once I had them memorized, no problem anymore.

I flunked high school geometry (passed on second try, possibly because my best friend Susie was no longer sharing my desk and we couldn't spend all our time talking about boys). Also flunked 8th grade home ec, because after putting the armhole facing on backwards for the THIRD time (on that ubiquitous and unwearable sewing project, the "shift" dress)---each time carefully and seriously analyzing how it should go on---I carefully folded up the unfinished shift and left it at the classroom door. Urg. There just aren't any outlets in my brain for visual-spatial plugs, so they knock around against the walls in there aimlessly and after a while retreat, slightly depressed and vaguely insulted, I think.

I have no idea which side of my brain I work out of. I love words, speak Spanish easily, and must have a visual in my head before I can do anything properly. Today, when riding, I caught a glimpse of my shadow, and my back didn't look straight. I thought, "I need to see someone riding with a good straight back, then I could imitate it." I recently read an article on good running form, but what really helped me was the picture of Deeva Kastor's elbows going far back with every stride. And the paragraph that pointed out why that helps. So. There you have it. Both sides of brain engaged! :D

I'm a righty of the "see it, do it, get it" persuasion. The more pictures the better! I always read my magazines backwards too. I do like words, but I often feel as though the one I want just hasn't been invented yet.

I'm a lefty and I switched my brake cables too. I'm MUCH stronger with my left hand. My experienced biker friend told me that in Europe, that's how the bikes are cabled.

I'm a righty but my left hand is stronger than my right. Years of playing string instruments (including bass) will do that to a girl.

I haven't switched my brakes, I just haven't seen the need.

I work with words, but boy, am I visual. I need a mental picture of where things are and what they look like to do anything. Telling me how to do something simply does not work. This can create problems...

Back brakes are on the left and front on the right in countries that drive on the left. If I bought a bike somewhere else I'd have to get 'em changed over - would do my head in having them the opposite way around after all this time.

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Originally Posted by tlkiwi

Back brakes are on the left and front on the right in countries that drive on the left. If I bought a bike somewhere else I'd have to get 'em changed over - would do my head in having them the opposite way around after all this time.

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Is there a rational reason why those two things should be correlated? Which side is the rear shifter on? The rear shifter ought to be on the same side as the rear derailleur (or did for downtube shifters). Putting the rear derailleur on the left would require the derailleur hanger on the left dropout, crank on the left side, crank arm pedal threads the opposite way, freewheel freewheeling the opposite way. I'm not sure if the BB fixed cup would have to move to the other side. I can't see manufacturers and framebuilders making those kinds of changes.

I never advocated changing the shifting, just the brakes. I've had it that way for 30 years now, so I'm really used to it.

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Originally Posted by gringa loca

I'm a lefty and I switched my brake cables too. I'm MUCH stronger with my left hand. My experienced biker friend told me that in Europe, that's how the bikes are cabled.

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It really makes more sense to put the front brake in the stronger hand. Not that I'm suggesting anyone change their brakes away from the way they are used to. But the front brake has the most stopping power and the rear brake just has to exert some drag. Braking with 2 hands is always best, but too much force on the rear brake locks the wheel.

Well, that was my point. If people who are left handed exert too much pressure on the front brake with their left hand, they go over the handlebars. I know more than one to whom it has happened. For me, I did a lot of what's now called self contained touring 'back in the day' and most gear weight was in the back of the bike (I've read that it's recommended to be in the front now since body weight is in the back.) So I needed good rear wheel stopping power and I wanted my dominant hand strength. I never had a locking problem.

Gosh, I just use both hands, though right now the rear brakes are screamin' at me, so I have started using the front more (with the Xtracycle and it's long back, I"m not too likely to go over the handlebars). Looking forward to getting the rest of the disk brake put on the rear.

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Originally Posted by DebW

Is there a rational reason why those two things should be correlated? Which side is the rear shifter on? The rear shifter ought to be on the same side as the rear derailleur (or did for downtube shifters). Putting the rear derailleur on the left would require the derailleur hanger on the left dropout, crank on the left side, crank arm pedal threads the opposite way, freewheel freewheeling the opposite way. I'm not sure if the BB fixed cup would have to move to the other side. I can't see manufacturers and framebuilders making those kinds of changes.

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In answer to your question Deb, I do believe there is - they're the opposite on countries that drive on the left for signalling purposes:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3804

I was chuckling at this thread a while back, until I got my bike back from the workshop today, after having had the cassette replaced.
Apparently I'd managed to fit my rear brake blocks, not only back-to-front, but also upside down! I simply followed the instructions on the packet - how did that happen?! :o
Luckily my mechanic is a lovable guy and not at all into putting anyone down, it just tickled him - and he was more worried about my reduced braking power than reducing my ego.
Kinda embarrassing, all the same!

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Originally Posted by SnappyPix

In answer to your question Deb, I do believe there is - they're the opposite on countries that drive on the left for signalling purposes:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3804

I was chuckling at this thread a while back, until I got my bike back from the workshop today, after having had the cassette replaced.
Apparently I'd managed to fit my rear brake blocks, not only back-to-front, but also upside down! I simply followed the instructions on the packet - how did that happen?! :o
Luckily my mechanic is a lovable guy and not at all into putting anyone down, it just tickled him - and he was more worried about my reduced braking power than reducing my ego.
Kinda embarrassing, all the same!

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Thanks, Snappy. It's always good to know that the world is a rational place.

There was a time when putting your brake blocks on backwards meant that, when you squeezed the brakes, the pads came flying out. The metal pad-holder on Weinneman brakes was open on one end to make it easier to replace the pads (you could buy just the rubber pads or the brake block with pad and holder). It was more obvious which end went forwards, but dangerous if you got it wrong. Glad you suffered from nothing worse than embarassment, Snappy. Not sure I would necessarily know which end of a brake pad goes forward anymore (and it may not matter for some).

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Originally Posted by DebW

There was a time when putting your brake blocks on backwards meant that, when you squeezed the brakes, the pads came flying out. The metal pad-holder on Weinneman brakes was open on one end to make it easier to replace the pads (you could buy just the rubber pads or the brake block with pad and holder). It was more obvious which end went forwards, but dangerous if you got it wrong. Glad you suffered from nothing worse than embarassment, Snappy. Not sure I would necessarily know which end of a brake pad goes forward anymore (and it may not matter for some).

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Erm, funny you should say that, as mine were exactly that type (not same make though) and the mechanic mentioned something about the possibility of them having shot out and me trying to brake without any pads ... :o

As I've started concentrating on hill-training, it also means I've been doing some pretty steep descents ... OMG!!! :eek:
I've got a lycra-clad guardian angel up there somewhere!

At least now I know I'm not to be trusted with even the simpliest of things! :rolleyes: