Using a cheap one today and found it was well out of "calibration" against a friends more upmarket Italian job. So any recommendations for a decent but not bank busting torque wrench please. My "big" ones are Britool, don`t know if the do small ones?
I have a Norbar 1/4” drive one. 4-20 Nm Very pleased with it.
Pleased with my ParkTool one for 10-60 nm. Got an expensive Italian one for 2-16nm Effetto Mariposa Giustaforza
^^ I also have that one. Great for most bike things.
Edit: The Norbar above.
Had forgotten about Norbar. Cheers
I have a mk1 calibrated elbow. I've always felt that if you are into tools enough to be spending decent money on a torque wrench, you should be proficient enough to not really need it.
There are certain things I would always use one on (eg. head bolts), but bike stuff is generally done by feel.
I never use one on a bicycle and have never bust a bolt on one since I was a kid. I did have to learn the hard way tho with a few busted and stripped ones early on.
I have also known folk to overtighten relying on a torque wrench ( not set properly/ out of calibration / not feeling the click as its very soft at low settings . Really for a bike you would need 2 or 3 as the range of torque used is so vast
I don't use mine much but every now and again I do feel like it's nice to have to make sure something is right, particularly where something has a very low torque setting. Eg my DH fork has pinch bolts quoted at something like 2Nm on a 5mm Allen key, which just seems odd to me so a tool feels logical even if it's just to check the calibration of my hand. And 2 of said bolts have snapped. 2nd hand bike though. I also felt uneasy about sliding dropout bolts which need a high torque and could move in use.
No point recommending my specific product despite it being fine for me (as far as I know - I haven't recalibrated it) and coming in a nice box with suitable bits, because this subject has come up before and Norbar sounds like the answer for similar money from those in the know.
What torque wrench thread #2769
Norbar are good. Halfords Pro good too.
But like others, I've almost no use for them on a bike, or for much else. I do use mine most times on cranks as they're pernicious buggers. And obviously for torque sensitive stuff like cylinder heads
Really for a bike you would need 2 or 3 as the range of torque used is so vast
On a modern bike the range is low and typically from 4 to 14nm. Anything that needs stuff really tight (i.e. square taper crank) I just do up very tight with a long Allen key which does the trick.
As said above I need one for low torque items (probably because I am so strong :-)) such as stupidly small Thomson stem bolts
5nm stuff I just use a Ritchey torque key, everything else just judgement (i.e. either really tight or stupidly tight)