…And what torque wrench do you use?

BBB one. 2-24Nm, includes a selection of allen key bits and a Torx25

Bought a BBB one after overtightening a brake lever clamp and compressing the outer layer of some awfy dear carbon bars. Only use it for bars, bushings and bearings.

me, BBB one

always use on Thomson or carbon or crank arm bolts

Halfords Professional 10 to 60NM, 3/8″ drive
Teng Tools 0 to 20NM, 1/4″ drive

I usually do most bolts by hand but use the torque wrench on stems and crank arm bolts.

Yes, it’s built into my hand…

but use the torque wrench on stems and crank arm bolts.

same here – if the search thingy/thucky worked on here then you could see how many people have probs with loose cranks*

*mechanical issues

Never use one on a bike – no need. Been a couple of posts recently from folk who broke stuff by relying on a torque wrench not on their common sense.

they are inaccurate at the ends of their scale and really need to be calibrated. Its useful perhaps if yo are unsure of the correct tightness of bolts while you develop the feel but never blindly trust them

I did think about getting one to fit my new carbon bars, but the bars were £100 to start off with, and if I factored in £30 for a torque wrench they seemed a bit spendy. So I bought the bars and not the wrench. 🙄

I’ve used a Norbar torque wrench for the last few years which adjusts between 1 and 20nm.

They might be seen as an unecessary expense at first, but after seeing a friend overtighten a bolt on a carbon component a few years ago; I’ve seen a torque wrench as an essential bit of kit.

Tacx 5-25nm. Found I was undertightening some bolts, and way overtightening others, so IMO quite useful.

I’ve got a couple of Sealey one that seem to do the job. I find them quite reassuring.

BBB one here too. Very impressed with it, although I’ve yet to find a bolt I’ve done up without one that wasn’t within a Nm of the correct torque setting.

Nope. If I bought any carbon bits I’d maybe think about it, but for everything else I basically do it by feel. Not dead yet and everything seems to be working.

Yep, and it’s calibrated once a year through the company I work for.

Have carbon bikes and components so the outlay for one was worth it IMO.

Sheldon always recommended one of these for the beam and scale type torque wrench;

Personally, I have a small Park tools one for stem bolts and a nice one with a scale like this for larger jobs like crankbolts;

Have a Draper 1/2″ square drive for important stuff on the R1 but I would never use one on a bicycle. 5Nm is the kind of effort you’d need to turn a door handle, 60Nm is approx 60lbs of pressure through a 6″ wrench i.e. tight

Ritchey Torqkey, just for bar bits.

Everything else is done by hand, and the correct tool 🙂

Don’t understand any mechanic who doesn’t use one, especially those who avoid using them with platitudes like ‘ if you can’t judge blah blah blah’. I wager, without torque wrenches, most home mechanics under tighten BB’s, and overtighten brake hardware and handlebar stem bolts.

I use a Park cantilver I have had for years for the big jobs, which a child cam re-calibrate (should it need it), and a small ratchet one that does the small jobs that I got from CRC.

Some mono thought cycle mechanics seem proud to boast that they don’t need one. These individuals have magic hands and can tighten any bolt to the right torque. Well apart from their barely tightened BB’s, and over tightened stems and rotor bolts….

Very strange.

I use one of these

Really easy to use.

I use one (cheapy draper one) for stuff I would fear of stripping – Nuts and bolts I have the experience to use without most of the time but crank bolts, BB cups and stuff needing high torques etc.

every bike component has the same torque setting;
1) tighten ’til you strip the threads
2) back it off half a turn.

HTH

A Giant Toolshed one, as above though I only really use it for stem, clamp, and BB pinch bolts.

I have one, can’t remember what make. I bought is as I got a carbon road bike and didn’t want to break anything. Now I have a few carbon bits on MTBs too it’s even handier.

Don’t understand any mechanic who doesn’t use one, especially those who avoid using them with platitudes like ‘ if you can’t judge blah blah blah’. I wager, without torque wrenches, most home mechanics under tighten BB’s, and overtighten brake hardware and handlebar stem bolts.

Maybe most mechanics realise that torque wrenches are over rated. I have seen to many stupid things done by people using torque wrenches and disengaging their brain. Most settings aren’t hard to figure out.

Got a couple of norbars 0-20nm and 20-120nm they are great tools and i use them outside of the bike world too hence the better quality ones