Do I need a torque wrench?

alomac

Hi all,

It's time for me to adjust my cockpit set up, which will involve reinstalling the badly installed stem faceplate, and repositioning the levers and shifters. I was going to buy a torque wrench for this job, but I noticed that on the 'assemble your new bike' workshop video, the demonstator just used normal allen keys.

Is this a good idea? My MTB budget is pretty dry, so if I can avoid buying the wrench then so much the better, but at the same time I wouldn't want to compromise my safety or the bike's.

Cheers,
Adam.

supersonic

Unless you can judge the torques by hand, they can be useful with parts liek this.

I have hardly ever used a torque wrnech, but have good feel because I have built 100s of bikes.

alomac

Off I go to order a torque wrench, then...

Cheersm
Adam

AdrianW

Check out screwfix they have some good wrenches at reasonable prices, 5-25NM at £30 which is perfect for most MTB applications

bomberesque

Going out on a limb here, I disagree with SS :oops: :shock: :oops:

I have a torque wrench, but only bought it because I was assembling my first fully carbon bike

previous to that I have always worked with normal tools and have never had problems (at least not ones that a torque wrench would have avoided)

If you're assembling carbon parts then OK, otherwise it's a nice tool to have but I would spend the 30 quid on something else if on a tight budget

supersonic

Like I say, if you are a good jusdge of torque, you don't really need one with a bike. If not, they can be handy with delicate parts.