There's an obvious answer of course – don't overtighten them, but bear with me.

Volcanic ash permitting I'm hoping that my R853 Pipedream Sirius will be with me this week. It has sliding dropouts, which do slide (rather than being simply replacable and held in place by the frame) so I assume that the bolts that hold them in place will be under a lot of load. I emailed Paragon Machine Works, who I belive supply them, to ask about the recommended torque range and was told 24-26 NM, fair enough. However the email went of to say at the upper limit of this range (and 2Nm is hardly much of a range), unless you use a new 5mm wrench there's the possibility of rounding out the bolt head on a steel bolt.

Now it strikes me as odd to supply hardware that might round out when used as recommended. I'll be running mine geared and was intending to threadlock the bolts in nice and tight and leave it at that, but if you were running singlespeed/Roholf dropouts and regularly sliding them to tension the chain all that loosening/tightening might be rather worrying.

Interestingly the email went on to mention that titanium bolts are available where rounding out isn't an issue and that they're a nice upgrade. Now I though that titanium was stronger than steel by weight, but not by volume and that therefore ti. bolts were weaker than their steel counterparts (my Raceface stem instructions warn against replacing the steel bolts with titanium ones). Since I've heard of steel bolts holding Orange P7 sliding dropouts in place breaking I'd have thought that titanium bolts torqued up to a level where you might round out the head of a steel one, may well stretch or break, but there you go.

So, am I likely to round out my bolts doing them up to the recommended torque (and I'd imagine that doing less tight runs the risk of the dropouts shifting) or is this an opportunist sales pitch?

use a hex key that fits properly & there wont be an issue

Reccomended torque is (or should be) dependant on bolt material so you just wouldn't crank the Ti bolts so tight.

doubt it's a biggie unless you use either crap or very worn keys

try it not-so-tight and see what happens ?

Make sure you put the allen key all the way into the bolt before tightening.

TI bolts do seem a bit softer and prone to easy damage ime,but as long as the threads and internal bolt head are clean you have a quality hardened steel allen key in good condition,with the right "t" setting there should be no problems.

TI will also have a different torque setting to steel though ❗

The most important thing when doing hex bolts up I reckon is to use a quality tool & ensure it's engaged correctly before cranking on it.

Wouldn't you need the same torque regardless of material in order to apply the same amount of pressure to the dropouts to stop them slipping?

I've got a Kona Cowan frame with slidey dropouts – and dome-headed steel allen bolts. Very soft heads, and very easy to round out. Crap design really.

Wouldn't you need the same torque regardless of material in order to apply the same amount of pressure to the dropouts to stop them slipping?

It's quite possible that the correct torque for the Ti bolt won't give enough clamping force, in which case just tightening it up more will result in rounding or stretching the bolt or stripping the thread if it's a crappy bolt. This is probably why manufacturers don't reccomend using Ti bolts.

Use a good quality socket and make sure you keep it square when tightening the bolts. Use their torque settings and you should be fine. Personally I wouldn't use the loctite but just check them every ride for a few weeks and make sure they stay tight.

I'm sure if it was a huge problem it would be pretty prevalent on here…

I have Paragon sliding dropouts on my single speed. As long as you use a decent tool you shouldn't have a problem. However I have found that mine did slightly round over time, so I have invested in a few spare bolts and just replace them at the first sign of rounding. The bolts are M8 x 16 stainless steel. My local bolt shop sells them for 20p each.

Oddly I have just checked and I think I have replaced all the original ones, but the replacement bolts have never rounded…

5mm hex wrenches don't cost much. Just buy a good quality new one and reserve it for this job so it doesn't get worn elsewhere.

I can't believe no one has suggested using hex head bolts.

EPIC FAILS ALL ROUND

Is there room for a hex head bolt and a socket ?
Maybe not a fail at all.
Torx drivers are less prone to slipping or rounding than hex drivers.
How about replacing the hex socket bolts with torx bolts.

An M6 socket cap screw is 10mm diameter. An M6 hex head bolt is 10mm AF.

I know it works cos I've done it myself – seemed the obvious if unsightly solution

That's 10mm AF, a bit more across the points, plus a bit more again for the socket.
I don't know the details of this frame. If there is room for a normal hex head bolt, that would be the easy option.

When you come to the bridge simply cross it by what ever means is required at the time. Contingency plans are great but come on, if you debated everything that might happen wouldn'y you spend all your time online talking sh1te?

Park allen keys always fit very snugly (unlike the cheapo lifeline ones I had and the bits that came with my BBB torque wrench).

aye but the bbb ones fit nice and snug with a dusting of volcanic ash. you dont need any of this fancy blue park stuff.