You must be an electrical engineer. I learned this as the orientation of magnetic field around a conductor. I find this thinking very useful, though sometimes I flip things 180 degrees in my mind and tighten things when I mean to loosen them. Recently broke my favorite 35 year old Craftsman 1/2" ratchet because I was backwards. Oh well, at least it was replaceable without damaging the part I was trying to loosen.

Compass directions are like this for some people too. For example, if two straight streets intersect each other and one runs north/south and one east/west, one should be able to specify which of those four corners something is on really easily and precisely.
Yet the number of people I know who could be told, “There’s a mailbox on the southwest corner of the intersection of Walnut and Beacon” and not have to ask a bunch of clarifying questions is surprisingly low!

This is all you need to know. Forget everything else.

It works in any orientation. When working on my car I can be completely on the other side of a Fastener and all I have to do is point my thumb in the direction I want the Fastener to go and my fingers curl in the direction to turn it. No need to visualize a clock or anything else.

Just watch out for a left-hand threads, which I don't think exist on bicycles.

Except on the left pedal spindle and right English BB cup and the extractors for certain cranks. But who ever takes their pedals on or off, right?

Actually in four places on relatively modern bikes: Left side pedals, right side BB cups in the British, ISO, and Swiss standards, fixed cog lock rings, and freewheel outer races.

Only freewheel hub threading that would be left hand thread would be on a rear hub made to have the drive on the left end.

tandem hubs has left ends threaded but that was for a brake, so was made tighter when the brake was applied


(near-trivia) old Regina Freewheels had the 2 largest cogs LH thread against the shoulder in the freewheel body.





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Read again. I didn't say "freewheel threading" I said the freewheel outer race, the ring that the outer bearings run on. Like most of the other LH threads on a bike, it's LH thread to prevent loosening due to epicyclic forces from the bearings. The fixed cog lock ring is the only one that's different in that regard.

But I have made a "lefty", a LH drive bike. Takes people a second to figure out what's different. Pino Morroni did one many years ago, and then Felt recently resurrected the idea for the USA track pursuit bikes. Pino's theory being that the extra weight is lower on the track and travels a shorter distance than a regular RH drive bike, using less energy. Felt also claimed an aero advantage IIRC

Yes, that's right, good catches both. I'd suspect some antique hubs had LH threads on one side of the axle too.

I dont tear down freewheel bodies its a pointless task by now ..


some cars have right and left hand lugnuts holding the wheels on .







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Yes it was a rel question
 

Thank you very much to CNY for their almost instant response which was also the most clear.
And I DO understand how a clock goes around.
I DON'T count the number of times a phrase has been used before asking a real question. That second reply was so snarky it should have been sifted out. Not helpful.