Carbon fiber and torque wrenches

dennisn

Imposter wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Take a look at the bottoms of high end(high priced) cycling shoes. There is an extremely fancy grid of lines with all sorts of markings on them. Looks extremely hi-tech. But is it really?

No - it's just a series of fancy lines. A bit like a grid reference on a map - it's just a series of fancy numbers. Personally, I used the fancy lines on my shoes to help line up my cleats correctly. You probably looked at the fancy lines on your shoes in the same way as a gorilla might look at a pocket calculator.

You're more or less correct. I don't use them. I take a marking pen and trace around the old cleats before I remove them. New ones go on in the right spot every time.
You'll have to admit though that given a choice of shoes of equal price that you will most likely pick the fanciest design. Fit not withstanding.

imposter2.0

dennisn wrote:

You're more or less correct. I don't use them. I take a marking pen and trace around the old cleats before I remove them. New ones go on in the right spot every time.

Which is fine, until you buy new shoes.

dennisn wrote:

You'll have to admit though that given a choice of shoes of equal price that you will most likely pick the fanciest design. Fit not withstanding.

I won't have to admit that, because it is utter nonsense. Please don't judge everyone else by your own poor and vacuous standards.

pkripper

dennisn wrote:

Is it possible that part of the reason for the torque settings is so they can charge more for the product by making it appear more hi-tech than it is?

Yes, it is perfectly possible.

Is it also possible they're doing it because they've done some analysis of the potential use of the product, looked at the material used, understood the structural/mechanical properties of that material, and the way it will behave if used as intended (and also not intended), applied a margin of error, applied a further safety margin, and come up with a torque setting that should meet what are potentially conflicting criteria?

dennisn

Imposter wrote:

dennisn wrote:

You're more or less correct. I don't use them. I take a marking pen and trace around the old cleats before I remove them. New ones go on in the right spot every time.

Which is fine, until you buy new shoes.

All shoes do not have the same markings. So trying to put cleats on new shoes using the old shoes patterns may not be
advisable or even possible.

imposter2.0

dennisn wrote:

Imposter wrote:

dennisn wrote:

You're more or less correct. I don't use them. I take a marking pen and trace around the old cleats before I remove them. New ones go on in the right spot every time.

Which is fine, until you buy new shoes.

All shoes do not have the same markings. So trying to put cleats on new shoes using the old shoes patterns may not be
advisable or even possible.

Nobody ever said it would. But don't let a minor issue like that stop you spouting more random drivel on the topic...

desweller

With all products sold for money there will be a strong element of marketing in their design. It would be extremely naive to believe otherwise. The trick is knowing how to distinguish between hype and fact.

With respect to the thread topic, I will say that most people who do not have experience with tightening fasteners will heavily overtorque them. Particularly if given a long-handled wrench; it will never occur to them to moderate force to compensate for moment. And this can equally lead to premature failure on composite or alloy materials.

ddraver

Hence the common "my tourque wrench isnt clicking" question on here as someone realises how little 5Nm really is....

matt_n-2

pkripper wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Is it possible that part of the reason for the torque settings is so they can charge more for the product by making it appear more hi-tech than it is?

Yes, it is perfectly possible.

Is it also possible they're doing it because they've done some analysis of the potential use of the product, looked at the material used, understood the structural/mechanical properties of that material, and the way it will behave if used as intended (and also not intended), applied a margin of error, applied a further safety margin, and come up with a torque setting that should meet what are potentially conflicting criteria?

Exactly that!

Is it that hard to understand?

itsnotarace

The problem with torque wrenches is that people see the numbers written on the stem, bars, seatpost clamp or whatever and treat it as a target to aim for, whereas in fact it's a maximum. Quite often the part can be suitably clamped with less force than the manufacturers maximum rating.

The other problem with torque wrenches is that you are putting blind faith in the fact it has been calibrated properly, regardless of what the supplied "certificate" says.