[amitoj]

Yikes! That must have hurt like hell.
Get well soon pal.

And thanks for putting it up here to warn others.

Amitoj

[joe1980]

Sorry to hear that.

I had a similar experience as a child where I was trying to oil my bicycle's chain. My friend was at the pedals and I was running through the chains with my hand and a cloth soaked in oil. My friend pushed the pedals very hard and my fingers slipped and got caught in the cog. It was minor though but I still have those marks in my fingers.

Yours seem to be a very bad accident. I hope you get well soon. Appreciate that you advise our friends here.

[SajiNSalin]

It must have been a traumatic experience. This incident teaches us that there is danger in carrying out these activities. Probably, it would be safer to clean the chain with the bike switched off and in neutral. You can then turn the wheel by hand.

I used to remove the chain from the sprockets and soak it overnight in kerosene or diesel and use an old toothbrush the next day to remove the crud from the chain.

It is good to expect that accidents will happen when you work with live machinery and to take precautions to prevent accidents.

Saji

[Gill]

Get well soon! I like your spirit, very few people share their mistakes, so that others learn from them.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

That's real sad to read and wish you a speedy recovery! Thanks for sharing with us all.

Take medicines on time and get back to your beloved bike real soon!

One of my uncles has this corrugated packing box manufacturing unit and used to hear a lot of horror stories about people loosing their fingers while cutting the paper on machine. Trust me, I literally used to fear that machine and never ever even went close to it.

On a lighter note, Iron.Head has now got a Iron.Hand! (just kidding!)

[black12rr]

Even one my friend hand his four fingers cut like this .He engaged the bike in gear and was cleaning the chain and with the phone in other hand ,the end result was cut fingers . :(

[svsantosh]

My dad lost his left index finger (top 1/3rd) in a VBelt electrical motor accident around 40 years ago. His take away is the day of accident doesnt hurt - you are pretty much in shock. But recovery after a week or 2 is worse than you can imagine!

PS - I hold the cloth in left palm and tyre in right and rotate it slowly inch by inch - dirty job but safer. Of course 1 bakra friend to press the handle bar down (Pulsar 220 is a rear heavy slouch!)

[JustCause]

It happened to me in my childhood days. Fortunately, it was a bicycle chain that I was cleaning with the method the OP describes. I used my other hand to rotate the rear tyre. Even while I was paying utmost attention to the chain drive mechanism, the rag got stuck & took my finger to the sprocket with it.

As the process was manual, the wheel stopped after piercing the skin & didn't break my finger. Still, it was the tetanus shot I feared the most.

[airfoil]

Wish you a speedy and complete recovery, iron.head.

Here my suggestion to those who want to continue to clean their chains the old fashioned way:

I simply clean the upper part of the chain; the one that moves toward the engine/front sprocket. This is after a friend lost the tip of his forefinger in a similar accident. Removal of the upper (or half) chain case is required though.
It is the lower part of the chain that moves toward the rear sprocket and best avoided for cleaning/oiling.

[esteem_lover]

Your honesty and intention to stop others from committing the same mistake is absolutely admirable iron.head. Even I had my share of fingers in the sprocket with bicycles, but never attempted with a Motor Cycle running.

[thumpingheart]

Oh my god. That is really shocking man. Losing the tip of a finger is really sad. But great that you are brave enough to fight it, write about it here and share it with us!

Really hoping you get well soon and hop on your bike ASAP. Really appreciate your spirit.

Cheers.

[Scarlet_Rider]

Appreciate you for sharing this unfortunate incident with all. Wishing you a speedy recovery and get back revving soon!!

I would like to share the way I clean my bike's chain. I take a bowl with some kerosene and use a 1 inch paint brush. Dip the brush in the kerosene and apply it on the chain and sprocket while turning the wheel with the hand. Then after some time, wipe off the kerosene from the chain and sprocket using a cloth but again I turn the wheel by hand. Once done, it is then oiled. The hands get dirty but hey, there is no fun unless you dirty your hands while caring for your automobiles!

As mentioned in a previous post by SajiNSalin, the best way to thoroughly clean the chain and sprocket is by removing them. The brush and kerosene method is effective with the chain on the bike.

Regards and Keep Revving,

Rahul Waghmare.

[BoneCollector]

Ouch..Dude,i do see such cases quite often and many a times,its the children.As i see,its been just few days since the injury and you were taken care off pretty well.I would recommend just one thing that post the cast removal,you must try to get your hand and fingers to near normal state of movements and work(as per the advice of your treating doctor).By the way did you suffer fractures to your phalanges,the small bones of fingers?
Get well soon buddy and practice safer techniques.

[selfdrive]

Get well soon buddy, and I wish you strength and patience to complete your physio sessions successfully.

I learnt never to run a stationery bike (on stand) when one of my friends was showing another friend the gear system on his bike while in junior college. we had just learnt riding bikes then but were all used to the Hero Honda system (4 back). His bike had a 1 front, 3 back system (we called it that!) and he was demo'ing this in the parking lot. Someone pressed the rear of the bike down, and it just flew off the stand into a couple of other bikes. Thankfully no one was on it (the guy was standing next to it) but we had learnt our lesson.
Never worked on anything that was running since then.

[GTO]

Get well soon, Iron.head. You'll be touring on the Enfield in no time

Thanks for sharing this valuable bit of advice with other bikers.