The old mechanic in Reno handed me a 9/16 wrench and told me to stop touching spokes with my bare hands

Jamie Smith · 2026-09-15T07:30:03.706803+00:00

I was 19 and working at a shop on Virginia Street in Reno when a guy named Dale watched me true a wheel with my fingers all over the spokes. He pulled me aside, handed me a 9/16 wrench, and said 'oil from your hands rusts nipples faster than rain, kid.' I argued that everyone I knew did it this way, and he just shrugged and walked off. Six months later I had to replace 14 seized nipples on a customer's bike that I'd built myself, and every single one had rust starting right where I'd grabbed it. Nobody at the shop would admit it, but Dale was right, and I still see guys on YouTube doing the bare hand thing. Has anyone else had an old timer call out something you thought was totally normal and turn out to be dead on?

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The old mechanic in Reno handed me a 9/16 wrench and told me to stop touching spokes with my bare hands | Bicycle Mechanics - Talk Freely