Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 40 total)
  • Torque wrench – useful or overkill?
  • mattbibbings
    Free Member

    Having been assembling and fettling my own bikes for over 20 years I suddenly felt the urge to buy a torque wrench. Partly due to reading the recent thread on bike maintenance failure here and considering the potential cost of any ham fisted moments now I own the most expensive bikes I have ever owned, and partly because Superstar had them for 40 beans.

    It just got me wondering, how many of you consider them useful and how may of you think ( like I have always done) that their wrist is pretty well calibrated already?

    treaclesponge
    Free Member

    Very useful if you have carbon stuff, if nothing else for peace of mind. Im often suprised as how little some bolts actually need tightening compared with what I would normall give them!

    EDIT – I have this one and found it to be very good for the job.
    http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/tools/wrenches/product/review-giant-tool-shed-torque-wrench-35229

    Pretty sure I only paid ~£40 for it though.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Having sheared the heads of bolts in the past, and having lots of carbon bits, essential.

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    roadie_in_denial
    Free Member

    I got one free with my last bike which made me think that if the Trek Corporation are that concerned about correctly torquing stem bolts that they see fit to give every customer a torque wrench then it’s probably pretty important. Having started using it I was actually pretty alarmed to see just how little torque such things need. But then we are talking about pretty delicate lightweight XC components here.

    Steve-Austin
    Free Member

    absolute waste of time and money

    do it up tight, and a smidge more, will see you right with everything on a bike..

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Overkill if you have an engineering mind, and possibly work in an applicable trade, and know how to use tools.

    Very useful if you don’t.

    mudshark
    Free Member

    Very useful when Trek ask you to prove you tightened your bolts correctly in dealing with a warranty claim on a frame – then ask you to send in your wrench to check it’s set correctly. Yes, I got a replacement frame by having a torque wrench.

    Trekster
    Full Member

    Mate borrowed a mates DH bike at the weekend. 1bolt on the stem cap sheared, 2 other bolt hole threads were stripped. That was pushing the bike uphill!

    I use one at work but not on my bikes.
    I was originally a motor mech and currently a factory fitter although retirement is calling 😆

    If you want one, get one.

    nowmefeelinit
    Free Member

    Essential for me – naturally over-torque everything and anything naturally despite coming from an engineering background. Aluminium alloy can strip quite easily, let alone magnesium alloy – and that’s before you get into the minefield of carbon…..

    That said, if you’ve done without one for 20 years, your wrists are much less in need of calibration than mine! Given the cost of components these days, though, I’d probably still get one for the lighter torque values where I know I’m most susceptible to getting it wrong – I’ve got one of these and it works perfectly: linky

    HTH. Stu

    br
    Free Member

    The only one I use is this:

    http://www.acycles.co.uk/ritchey-torque-key-5nm-2013-872.html

    Works well and takes away any worry.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    I’ve got an old Gordon one which I’ve never used on a bike. I’ve never sheared any nuts or bolts or had stuff come loose cos of undertightening either.
    And I do all the work on my bikes.
    I’m a proper clever clogs me. 😉

    somafunk
    Full Member

    Vehicle mechanic/grease monkey to trade, also got degree in mechanical engineering and i kinda specialised in stress n’ strain analysis, been building motorbikes/cars/pushbikes for as long as i can remember and i use one everyday but i do work in a bike shop and work methodically, it’s so i can hand a bike back to a customer will a clear mind than primarily for fear of over tightening any fastener – pretty much every bike we work on has very specific torque settings whether that be stem bolts, seatpost clamps, shock or linkage bushings, cranks etc…etc.

    Would you be happy for a mechanic to do up your wheel nuts on the car with “do it up tight, then swing a bit more on the bar” mentality?.

    You can get small torque drivers/ keys that are preset with a specific torque setting, these are very handy as owning a torque wrench is all well and good but they do need to be calibrated every so often as they have a varied torque range – and most folk forget to wind them back out to a zero torque setting thus rendering them pretty ineffectual/inaccurate over time.

    eulach
    Full Member

    Someone on the internets (might even have been here) once said that the length of the arm on the allen key is in direct proportion to the amount of force required to tighten the related bolt.

    collinstiffee
    Free Member

    not overkill. somethings simply don’t need to be over tight.
    more importantly, when you have two bolts on a collar (stem, non drive side of a hollowtech II), it makes sure they are tightened the same.
    you don’t need it for everything, but very useful and essential for some jobs.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Depends entirely on you tbh- I almost never use a torque wrench on pushbikes, but I have torquefingers, and I mostly calibrated those over the years by overtightening bolts then learning 😉

    The irony of course is that they’re most useful for the inexperienced, but, that’s also where they can be risky- because ignoring your instincts and trusting a tool can be a pretty good way to destroy things. “It can’t be stripping, the wrench hasn’t clicked”

    mattbibbings
    Free Member

    TBH one of the things that has tweaked my curiosity the most is to do a couple of ‘tests’ where I fit a component as I ever would and then see what the actual recommended torque setting feels like. Kind of like calibrating me in a more accurate way. Might be interesting.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    great to have around, I got one and it’s too much for the little jobs which is the real issue. Doing up the seat clamp on a carbon frame with a reverb is one of those times…

    Edit# Engineering judgement/feel is what you use right up until you snap something, then you use all your other skills to fix the balls up

    Dibbs
    Free Member

    Overkill if you have an engineering mind, and possibly work in an applicable trade, and know how to use tools.

    Really??
    I wish I was as overconfident[/u] as you.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Handy to have a nice extra tool but not necessary.

    ti_pin_man
    Free Member

    useful. I’ve been wrenching my own bikes for 20 odd years now and got a torque wrench last year because my bars spun in the stem when a bolt came loose, scared the hell out of me and after 20 years of thinking I was doing it tight enough it changed my mind.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    depends what the proceedure says.

    tbh if makes little difference seeing the way some of my friends operate their torque wrenches wrongly and then misstreat them trying to get stuck sockets off etc etc.

    i trust my own fingers more than their torque wrenches.

    I have one but it only comes out for carbon clamping – i did once use it on my carbon seat pin which has a clamp torque of 10nm. it needs much more before it stops slipping…..

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    So based on this thread, the correct torque setting is anything that doesn’t strip threads? Interesting… 😉

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Farmer boy mechanics, tighten it until it goes slack!

    Joking btw!

    cardo
    Full Member

    Spent 4 years as an apprentice learning how not to strip threads and bugger up things…but for peace of mind and safety on certain parts of the bike it’s a bit of a no brainer. IMO

    bencooper
    Free Member

    I have a few. I also tested a bunch, and found that the old bending-beam type was quite a bit more accurate than many of the snap-over types.

    But I almost never use them. After many years of getting bikes, I’ve got a good feel for how tight stuff needs to be.

    Feel can tell you a lot. It can tell you if an alloy thread is about to strip, it can tell you if a stainless bolt is galling. I wonder if relying on a machine sometimes gives a false sense of security (literally).

    Brother_Will
    Free Member

    Ive never felt the need but that comes from being a trained and experienced shop mechanic but what i also know is more and more components have specific needs. back when i was learning you would rarely see anything in carbon for example but if we did out came the TW2.

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    Although I have a Park swing-beam one and a more normal BBB torque wrench I never use them these days, instead I just use a Ritchey Torque Key (and then only for stems bolts, everything else is just by feel. OK I did strip a bar clamp bolt on a Formula R1 lever a few months ago but not stripped anything else lately :p

    yunki
    Free Member

    A torque wrench is indispensable in my book, you might even say that owning one has changed my life..
    I’m not a very confident mechanic at all..
    I was educated to understand that engineering involves adhering to strict tolerances with maths etc..

    If something’s designed with a certain torque value then that’s what I ideally want to tighten it to, for piece of mind safety wise and because I’m skint – if something failed because I’d over or under tightened it I’d be flippin’ livid

    All this ‘that’ll do’ and ‘near enough’ was giving me the heebie jeebies

    yunki
    Free Member

    double post

    freeagent
    Free Member

    I have a couple of larger torque wrenches, which are a hangover from my days pulling Landrovers apart.
    I’ve used them a couple of times on the bikes (mostly on HT2 BBs) however I’ve never really found the need to use them anywhere else, I work in Engineering and have a pretty good feel for how tight things need to be.
    I guess this might change if I spend ££££ on a carbon dream machine though…?

    jackthedog
    Free Member

    When I was about 14 I got my first bike with a threadless headset, and when adjusting the stem I managed to over-tighten the steerer clamp bolts and stripped the thread in the alu. New stem was £20 or so, which took a lot of saving back then, so it made me cautious forever more.

    When I first got my hands on a torque wrench a few years ago I used it to test all the bolts on my bikes that I could find recommended torque values for. It turned out every single bolt, big or small, was in the region of 1-2nm under torqued. Over cautious or just limp wristed?

    DanW
    Free Member

    Heavy duty parts, steel parts and steel bolts are generally reasonably tolerant to ham fisted approaches.

    If you have light weight parts, alu bolts, ti bolts, carbon fibre, etc then correct torque is essential.

    Seems most people fit in the first category while I am certainly in the second category 😀

    oliverd1981
    Free Member

    If you know how to use one properly – you probably don’t need one.

    flange
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t say they’re a necessity but they certain add some peace of mind when putting stuff together. I use a small 4mm one for stem/seatpost bolts and bar ornaments, but anything bigger I just do by feel. Always use one on the motorbike though, after my last efforts

    sbob
    Free Member

    I’ve got a large torque wrench which I bought to make sure my crank bolts were tight enough as I’d seen no end of square taper cranks get binned because the bolt became loose.

    Never felt the need to use one for anything else on the bike, and never had any problems.

    beaker2135
    Full Member

    too much talking, not enough torqueing IMHO

    Northwind
    Full Member

    oliverd1981 – Member

    If you know how to use one properly – you probably don’t need one.

    I took an entire paragraph to say the same thing less clearly 😳

    mrlebowski
    Free Member

    Would you be happy for a mechanic to do up your wheel nuts on the car with “do it up tight, then swing a bit more on the bar” mentality?

    Spot on!

    beaker2135
    Full Member

    Just found this on Amazon, identical to Giant Tool Shed? £37.24

    Mighty Torque Wrench

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