Torque Wrench

englander

With the arrival of a carbon seatpost and the prospect of future carbon bits, I was thinking of getting a very simple torque wrench so that I don't crack the seatpost.

I had a look at Wiggle and found this Ritchey tool which looks good: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ritchey-torque- ... able-bits/

I'd like to know, however, if there are better value/superior alternatives to this before I click buy. Criteria are: not overly expensive; selection of common bits (i.e. 4/5mm Allen keys).

Interested to hear your thoughts,
Thanks.

carl69

Santa bought me one of the Ritchey 5nm torque keys this Christmas. Have just been out and checked all my bolts, surprisingly I, d under torqued the majority of them when using 'feel'. Extremely simple to use and for me personally the extra cost of a torque wrench with a wide range was not worth it as all the bolts that would cause any problems with carbon cracking needed to be 5nm and the Ritchey has sorted that no problem.

Monty Dog

As well as the Ritchey, there are a number of alternatives all work using the same principle. TBH you don't really need anything else for bike use - I have two other torque wrenches in my workshop but they rarely get used. The other key torque settings on bikes are for cassette lockrings and BB cups which all require a fair heave

DiscoBoy

Englander wrote:

With the arrival of a carbon seatpost and the prospect of future carbon bits, I was thinking of getting a very simple torque wrench so that I don't crack the seatpost.

I had a look at Wiggle and found this Ritchey tool which looks good: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ritchey-torque- ... able-bits/

I'd like to know, however, if there are better value/superior alternatives to this before I click buy. Criteria are: not overly expensive; selection of common bits (i.e. 4/5mm Allen keys).

Interested to hear your thoughts,
Thanks.

I have one of these, it's great.

wayneedwards

I do them up finger tight but not too tight! i used a torque wrench on my handlebars and never seemed to be tight enough i would only use a torque wrench on things like pivot bolts on carbon mountain bike frame and stuff like that, but it's personal choice how you work on your bike

BenderRodriguez

You still need to take care with a torque wrench. One of the most common mistakes is to grease the threads and then try to tighten them to the specified value with a torque wrench. The grease lowers the friction so much that you may well over-tighten or even strip the threads or break the bolt. Torque values usually refer to a clean thread, or one lubricated with light oil that has then been left to drain for an hour.

englander

Thanks for the input everyone, I've placed the order.