torque wrench

andy610

im thinking of doing bike maintenance myself and was wondering if will need a torque wrench

hodsgod

I doubt it, it isnt difficult to feel when a bolt or nut is tight enough. That doesn't mean everything has to be done up tight of course. You must understand the element you are working on.

For example a threadless headset: the clamp screws on the side are tight. The screw on top is little more than finger tight.

A torqur wrench is probably not necessary, but knowledge is essential. Most topics are covered on Youtube actually.

Pirahna

If you're playing with carbon bits I'd say yes.

A decent torque wrench isn't cheap though and ones that go low enough for bicycles seem to be fairly expensive. I paid £70 for mine, but it did come with a calibration certificate.

Not overtightening nuts and bolts doesn't come naturally to everybody. I've got many years of experience of maintaining cars, motorcycles and or course bicycles and will use a torque wrench when I think I need to. Without fail I'll use it on carbon steerers and seatposts. I've seen alloy bars fail when stem bolts have been overtightened, and carbon forks de-laminate from overtightening. If you're not sure then get one.

scak456

I've recently bought one after investing in more carbon.

Found that I was actually under-tightening things.

Cheers
SK

dennisn

I have never used one and cannot recall ever busting off a bolt or stripping threads
or tightening anything until it broke or bent or sheared off or failed to work properly.
I do all my own work and can't remember the last time my bike was in the shop.
And I don't consider myself a great wrencher by any means.

Dennis Noward

McBain_v1

The one that was recently reviewed on the BikeRadar website gets a good write up (Pro Torque Wrench) but no-one actually has it in stock :!:

CrookedCucumber

I've never broken a fastening on my bicycle by over-tightening it, but I have on my quad bike Because my current bike has published torque figures for some of the fastenings -- particularly around the carbon fibre bits -- I am enormously careful about over-tightening them. As a result, I suspect they are all under-tightened.

In short, I shall be investing in a torque wrench as soon as I find a decent one within my limited budget.

Dales1

I'm very pleased with my low-range torque wrench £39.95 from Screwfix.com
More suggestions appear today in the Road Gear & Knowhow section of this forum.

Low torque settings are very difficult to judge accurately by feel alone, even for those with practice/mechanical sympathy.

Dales.