You ever perform the same task
so many times that you say, "I could do that blindfolded?" Well today,
we're going to put that to the test. I'm here at Squatch Bikes in Brevard, North
Carolina, and their bike mechanic, Pat: We're gonna put a blindfold on him and give
him a list of tasks and see if he can do it blindfolded. Can you see anything? Not
even a little bit? Okay, it's working. So these repairs are going to start really
easy, and we're going to ramp way up. In this bag is a set of lock-on grips. Your
first task is to remove the ones from this bike and replace them with these. Okay,
got it, don't need those instructions. Okay, uh, this is coming off. The one difficult
part is there is a left grip and a right grip, so he's gonna have to get that right. And he's
gonna have to get the grips oriented correctly, and hopefully he's done it enough times
to do it by feel. Let's see how he does. I know they're Ergon grips, but I've never
not visually paid attention to which one says right and left. This feels right. If the
bolt head was on top, it would stab you, so it's got to go this way. Okay, so he
is trying to figure out where the top and bottom of the grip is. He's also going by
the bolts to see where the left and right is. See, there's the head of the bolt, and then
there's where the bolt comes through the clamp. That's all he can do. There's
no other indicator on the grip. Okay, finding the fitting is more
difficult than I thought it was going to be. Come on, this is going
to look ridiculous. Oh, oh, I got you. So Pat says he's done. I've asked him to step
away, and we are going to assess the repair. He got the right and left grips correct, but they're
not right side up, they're completely upside down, like perfectly upside down. And you can see on
the grip, there is a little "up". Would these work on a mountain bike trail and be safe? Yeah,
absolutely, and the left and right is correct, but the little design on the grip is not in the
right spot, so I can't give this a passing grade. How did I do grips wrong? Alright, next repair. He's gonna have to
replace the chain. Here is the paper bag. Okay, inside the paper bag is a brand
new chain. I need you to take the old chain off and put a new chain
on. Can you hold that for a second? Alright. Oh yeah, he's serious. He's cutting the
old chain off. That means he can't lay both chains out on the bench. He has to determine what size
the chain is himself. There's no other choice. Rule number one of being a mechanic: never
trust somebody else's work. Where's the bench? Alright, good technique.
He's smashing the SRAM box. This is that cheap aluminum Kent bike,
isn't it? It is. So this is not a cage lock derailleur, is it? It is not a
cage lock Sram Derailleur. correct. How am I gonna know that it's on the last cog? So
he's trying to make sure that the chain is on the smallest cog on the cassette, and he knows that I
might throw him for a loop and just set the limits wrong. And so he's not trusting it. He's really
trying to make sure it is on the smallest cog. I don't have to cut it. I don't. I got lucky.
So he's got to put this master link together, and then put pressure on the drivetrain to click
it together, but he can't see whether it happens and he's got to do it all by feel. So he's got
to be really sure. And [Music] yeah, I'm done. Alright, you can step away, and I'm going
to assess the repair. Where's that rock? Alright, yeah, he did set the master
link in place. It does appear to be the right length. And you know what's really
impressive? The way I would have done it is I would have carefully removed the old
chain, laid both chains out on the bench, and ensured that they were both the same
length, because you can do that by feel. Now, because Pat is a professional mechanic,
he refuses to do that, because if the last mechanic sized the chain wrong, then it's
sized wrong. So he sizes every chain on the bike and actually uses his experience. This is
an extremely impressive repair. So 10 out of 10. So we're going to ramp things up a bit, and
this one can get a little bit messy. What brake bleeding entails is getting all the air out of the
hydraulic brake system and just making sure it's filled with fluid. And these are not any set of
brakes that he would have ever worked on before. So, come up here to the handlebars. Of course,
you've got hydraulic disc brakes. I'm not going to tell you which ones they are, but they do
take mineral oil. You got to do a lever bleed, that's it. So you don't want the lever pointing
straight down because all the fluid will come out. And so he's loosening the clamp to turn the lever
up for the brake bleed. But then the next step is a lot harder. He has to figure out where the
bleed port is. Is it a metric, or is it a Torx? No. Oh, this is a dangerous game. What are you...
did you already break this? Do we know that the fitting is good? It's good. Okay, it has to
be a Torx. I don't even know what the bleed port is. So he's gonna have to determine
which wrench fits in there to get it off. Get hit in the face with a handlebar. Oh, you found it. That's insane. First, he
figured out it wasn't a hex, and then he got the right one, the T15. My mind's actually
kind of blown. Don't lose the fitting, funnel, and fluid please. Are you sure this is the same
thread pitch? As the Shimano funnel? It's not. He figured out that the bleed funnel didn't fit, and he asked us for a TRP bleed funnel
because he needs a little bit of a bigger thread. That's something only an
experienced mechanic is going to notice. Okay, got that. Oh, too much. More is better
than not enough. How close? I'm right up there, aren't I? No, okay, that's enough. Space, I feel solid. I know I'm getting bubbles out
of it. It wasn't too bad to start with. [Music] Done. You are done? Okay, yes, I'm actually
done. Alright, let's uh... [Music] That was insane. First off, he did it successfully.
The brake feels great. I saw bubbles come out of the funnel. Probably the most difficult part
was determining where the bleed fitting was. Now, he did spill some fluid, and he did wipe most
of it up. None on the rotor and none on the fork, which is kind of miraculous. So I would
take off points, but he determined that the Shimano bleed funnel did not have the
right thread and requested a TRP bleed funnel, and these are Zoom brakes, and the thread
fit. So I have to give him a 10. 10! Oh yeah, done. Okay, so these are the handlebars.
The part that they're attached to is called the stem. That's right here, and it clamps to
the steerer tube which is attached to the fork. Now over here, you can see all
these various spacers. These are stack washers. I put all different sized ones in here
purposely. I painted this one green. That's the 10-millimeter stack washer. I need you to reduce
the stack height of the stem by 10 millimeters. Yeah, okay. Then I have to straighten
the bars too, don't I? Yeah, you have to put it all back together like
a professional bike mechanic. Okay. [Music] How many points off if I strip out a bolt? Okay,
so he's loosening the stem bolts. This is the point of no return. Like the bars are going to
fall out of alignment. He's got to put them back. Five. Here's my 10. Yeah, he found the
10-millimeter washer immediately. I mean, that should actually be no problem for Pat. Oh, this is a terrible headset, isn't it? Okay, so we put everything back together. You can see he put the green spacer on the
top. The bar is pretty straight. I have an idea. Can I find a
tool? Sure, I'm going this way. Thank you. [Music] Guys, okay over here. I'm going
behind the wheel stand. [Music] Alright I'm gonna commit there, I'll never get
it perfect, and it should be rideable. Okay, so that blue thing, that's
just a tool that's just made to keep your handlebar straight. So if you're working
on the bike, they don't move around, but he's using it to align the bars. That's not what
it's designed for, but pretty smart, honestly. Okay, the wheel. Fork is on the right way. Okay,
I'm done. Okay, step out for a second. I'm going to assess this. Definitely identified the
10-millimeter spacer which I had painted green. Yeah, headset bearings are perfect.
Could it be more aligned? It's like honestly, I can barely see it. Yeah, I have to give it a
10. You got it. Yeah, come take a look at it. You can take the blindfold off
and look at all your repairs. It okay, it's this bike. It
is the Kent Trouvaille. Okay, is the chain sized right? That's cool.
Yeah, and I got the grips upside down. You see, it says up. Like, there's
actually a lot. I couldn't see it. You honestly got the levers almost perfect. Yeah,
this one's high, but the bars are not straight. They're close. This one's back. It's pretty
close. It's rideable, right? It's rideable. Okay, so we're done. So, pretty impressive. Yeah, um, you up for a bonus round? What are you
thinking? So, it's not on this bike. Put the blindfold back on. Okay, back into the
darkness. Okay, it's a fork isn't it? Okay, you gotta drop the lowers, replace the bath
oil, make sure all the levels are right. Just wipe her down. Okay, so it's a Grip1 damper.
So, I need Fox 20 weight gold and 5 weight Teflon. If I break your fork, it's fine, right? It's
fine. Okay, oh, this is going to be weird. I have never swung a hammer
with a blindfold on before. Yes. I have to put a bucket underneath it.
Suspension service is not a beginner repair, not by any means, and so this could
get messy. I hope that bucket's there. I hear bucket, but I don't think
it all went in there. Nope. Oh, they're so oily. Damper side, air side,
fork arch. Now, I need oils. This is 20 weight, which goes on the air side. The air
side is the disc brake tab side. It goes in and stops one finger. Okay. I think I'm done. All right, remove your
blindfold. I didn't put the arch on backwards. I was worried about that. No, you got it right.
Definitely, oil all over the lowers and stuff, probably from your hands. On the five weight,
you went a little over. Okay, and that was a quicker fork service than I've seen people without
blindfolds do. Dude, I'm going to have to come up with harder repairs for you next time. There's a
next time. Do you guys want to see a next time? So, there you go. I'm really, really impressed.
Let me know if you want to see something like that again, and I'll come up with some really
difficult repairs. So, what I'm most surprised about is that the easiest repair ended up
being the one that he did least effectively, which was the grips. He got them upside down.
There's a little 'up' label on it, and you would have to just install those same grips a million
times to really know where it's supposed to go. Everything else he did, not completely perfectly,
but better than most home mechanics would, and sadly, better than a lot of professional bike
mechanics would have. I hope you enjoyed this episode of 'Blind Mechanic'. I hope you learned
something, and if you didn't, I hope you at least found it entertaining. Thanks for riding
with me today, and I'll see you next time. Alright, one last repair. I thought we
were done. Set both the front and rear tire to 23 and a half PSI. 23 and a half
PSI? Yeah, they're too low. They are at 23.5 PSI. Okay, why do I need a blindfold
for that? There's no gauge on the pump." 18. 18? Ohhhh!
