Anything decent under £50?

Thanks!

In the tradition of recommending what you have, I have this for bike stuff…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teng-1492AGE-5-25nm-4-inch-Torque/dp/B000Y8J2CA

I have no idea how accurate it is, apart from the fact it come with a certificate saying it is pretty accurate.

Good kit, teng.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/tools/wrenches/product/review-giant-tool-shed-torque-wrench-35229/

Good piece of kit, this. Can be had for under £50.

What range do you want? I have a 12Nm torque driver kicking around doing naff all.

Noted.

@Lee what does 12Nm cover on the bike ? If OP isn’t interested I may be

@LeeW Up to 12 would be great, majority of bike parts are 3-7 I think, taking it yours is adjustable?

Jamb – I dunno, depends what you have on your bike different manufacturer’s recommend different torque settings.

It’s an indicting one, so you have to look at the dial.

They key is good calibration. Most aren’t calibrated and generally neglected.

The other thing is extreme ends of the range tend to be inaccurate and often you need two if you’re going to cover small torques and large.

Smallest torques under 10, personally I’d go on hand judgment. Rely on a torque wrench and (as I found) snapped bolts is easy. Low torque bolts, high spec from manufacturer for good measure and chuck in Loctite to throw it off and you over torque, snap, and then you’re drilling out bolts (as I said, personal experience).

High torques the wrenches are more useful. Particularly with cassettes, cranks, BBs and the like, as a lot under torque them and then wonder why they fall apart.

I have a Norbar 1/4 drive for bike duties. Just Googled, they’re a bit spendy now. Accurate though.

My Sealey STW1012 (£25 on Amazon) is accurate to 0.31%, but an adjustment was needed to achieve that
My Norbar TT50 (around £70 online) was within tolerance (+/-4%) out of the box, no adjustment needed

Calibration (£10?) is important for any torque wrench ^^

Some torque wrenches can’t be used on LH threads, if that’s a particular need

Some torque wrenches can’t be used on LH threads, if that’s a particular need

This matters for bottom brackets. My Sealey one has a simple solution to this; the head just pushes through to the other side so you can use the wrench back to front.

Nobody needs a torque wrench. Just turn the bolt until the head breaks off, then back it off a quarter turn!

Icetoolz Ocarina gets good reviews, I got one to help avoid disaster with some new carbon bars + stem.

~10 year old Sealey 2-24nM here, still appears to do a great job when needed very rarely, although I’m aware they can de-calibrate over time.

A bit ore than OP’s budget, but does anyone have the Park Tools TW-5 1/4 in drive torque wrench?

I always trust Park Tools and at £74.99 am tempted…

Any actual owner reviews?

Id take a Norbar for a similar price over the Park one. They are very good indeed

for home use bending beam every time.

unless the properties of steel change it wont go out of calibration.

Just gotta learn how to use it.

If you’re looking in the £75 odd quid realms, you should be looking at a norbar or one of these;
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unior-9615485-Torque-Wrench-4-inch/dp/B00BOV5UN6

Unior make far higher quality tools than Park do.

*disclaimer* I am a complete tool whore.

Calibration (£10?) is important for any torque wrench ^^

It’ll cost a bit more than £10 for a calibration.

for home use bending beam every time.

unless the properties of steel change it wont go out of calibration.

Yet they do, frequently. Pretty much why they’re not used in industry as when they do drift, they’re scrap.

My Sealey STW1012 (£25 on Amazon) is accurate to 0.31%, but an adjustment was needed to achieve that

Thing is with wrenches, you could calibrate it the next day and will be completely different, hopefully still with in specification but you never know unless you calibrate it. A lot of companies expect the user to verify the torque before use as well as a ## month calibration.

I hate torque, it’s a ball ache. Most accurate thing to do is measure the length of your spanner and hang the desired weight off the end – whilst correcting for Cosine error of course.

It’ll cost a bit more than £10 for a calibration.

Just had a look at the invoice, +VAT, and it was part of a much larger job, so cheaper per unit I guess

Proxxon MicroClick would fit your budget but even the best t/wrenches have to be calibrated time to time…

Teng gets my vote
Or halford professional if it’s on offer

All of mine used to be calibrated every year – along with Tyre inflator, feeler gauges, Micrometers, vernier, steel rules, tread depth gauge ( 😯 ) The only one that was ever lobbed back off the van with disgust was a £20 Clarke item I had when I started in the motor trade – ‘wildly inaccurate’ was the report!! Cant recommend Norbar enough 🙂

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