What torque wrench?!

aircooleddude

Hi all I have been road cycling for a year now and am looking for a torque wrench to tighten smaller components (seat post etc etc) so I don;t damage the carbon fibre parts. Please coul semebody have a quick look at these two items and tell me if they're any good for the money. I'm not looking for anything expensive and fancy, just something to do the job and make a few minor adjustments now and again. Thanks all.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=11142

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=32396

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Sealey can be had for ~£40

scherrit

I have a had a Mighty on test in my workshop for a few months and it's more than good enough for home use, I think- comes with a good selection of bits. £50-ish?

Sonic cycles have them.

Cheers,
Scherrit.
www.thebikewhisperer.co.uk

hopper1

I bought one of these for £34.99 from Rutland Cycles, with a nice little box of Allen fittings.

scherrit

Hmm, it's a 3/8 drive- does it go low enough for stem bolts? You need to be able to do 4Nm or so.
Cheers,
S.

morxy

aircooleddude wrote:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=11142

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=32396

Neither of those come with any hex or torx bits. You'll need a set like these unless you have your own.

Also, the first of those wrenches is described as having a range of 2-24Nm. But one of the reviewers says it has a range of 7-105Nm? Very strange. Both wrenches have a 3/8" drive so they're compatible with the Park Tools Socket and Bit Set mentioned above.

hopper1 wrote:

I bought one of these for £34.99 from Rutland Cycles, with a nice little box of Allen fittings

Looks nice but the item on sale doesn't include any bits and I'd want a lower minimum torque than 6Nm.

Personally I'd buy a Pro Torque Wrench. It's high quality, addresses 3-15Nm and comes with its own set of bits, including a T30 which is handy for chainring bolts. The biggest hex bit is 6mm. But that should be fine as any fastener needing more than 15Nm would likely use a bigger bolt such as 8mm anyway.

mmacavity

Are these any good?
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/7 ... rench.html

Wooliferkins

These are fine and come with a set of drivers. As arethese but without the drivers

morxy

mmacavity wrote:

Are these any good?
http://www.parker-international.co.uk/7 ... rench.html

My friend owns one of these and is very happy with it. He trusts his Cervelo R3 with it Personally I'd like a T30 bit for chainring bolts. The BBB set only includes a T25. But that's just my personal preference.

Has anyone ever used a T25 for anything?! What uses T25??

scherrit

mtb disc mount I think?

ride_whenever

t25 is for mtb rotor bolts.

dennisn

I'll cast my vote for "Do you really need one?" Is a torque wrench a cure for a problem that doesn't exist? At least on bicycles? FWIW I have never used a torque wrench on a bike and can't remember when I last time stripped a thread or something of that nature. And I'm pretty "heavy handed". I vote NO.

ride_whenever

I bought one very cheap at trade, use it a lot, mainly because i can, but also because I've got carbon bars and posts and don't particularly want to break them.

dennisn

ride_whenever wrote:

I bought one very cheap at trade, use it a lot, mainly because i can, but also because I've got carbon bars and posts and don't particularly want to break them.

Not trying to be an *sshole, but how can you trust riding on bars and seat posts that you are afraid will break if you tighten them a bit too much???? I don't have a problem with carbon anything. Ride what you will. It's just that if you have little faith in them surviving
a bit of extra tightening how could you not be terrified to ride them knowing the stresses
that bumps and potholes in the road will put them through?

mmacavity

For carbon seatposts and handlebars this stuff is supposed to stop them slipping:
PACE RC005 Carbon Composite Shield
https://www.pacecycles.com/fluidworx2.a ... subcat=510

hopper1

morxy wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

I bought one of these for £34.99 from Rutland Cycles, with a nice little box of Allen fittings

Looks nice but the item on sale doesn't include any bits and I'd want a lower minimum torque than 6Nm.

Personally I'd buy a Pro Torque Wrench. It's high quality, addresses 3-15Nm and comes with its own set of bits, including a T30 which is handy for chainring bolts. The biggest hex bit is 6mm. But that should be fine as any fastener needing more than 15Nm would likely use a bigger bolt such as 8mm anyway.

It came with a 5 piece hex & torx set.
I use a Ritchey Torque Tool for my stem bolts, etc...

mmacavity

Torque wrenches do not come much better than:
http://www.norbar.co.uk/

mostly harmless

dennisn wrote:

I'll cast my vote for "Do you really need one?" Is a torque wrench a cure for a problem that doesn't exist? At least on bicycles? FWIW I have never used a torque wrench on a bike and can't remember when I last time stripped a thread or something of that nature. And I'm pretty "heavy handed". I vote NO.

I'd second this by all mean get a torque wrench but a feel for how tight things should be is invaluable. What do you do if you need to adjust something away from your workshop and have no idea of how tight is tight enough?

freehub

When I tighten my headset, I just use a multitool, seems to have worked so far,I just memorised how tight it was when I first undid it.

If I could afford one I'd certainly get one though.

hopper1

freehub wrote:

When I tighten my headset, I just use a multitool, seems to have worked so far,I just memorised how tight it was when I first undid it.

If I could afford one I'd certainly get one though.

That's just 'pot luck' so far then, as it takes more effort to overcome the make-up torque, than it does to apply the make-up torque! :roll:

markp2

I use Facom and Britool torque wrenches. Whatever you do, don't buy a 'bendy bar' type as these are difficult to use and generally inaccurate.

antfly

People who know more than me advise against using them at all, better to learn to do it by feel. The force you need will vary from the quoted figures anyway , apparently, depending on various factors, so it`s not always a good thing to stick to the figures.