~£40 Torque Wrench Recommendations

wolfsbane2k

Hi.

Not sure if this should be in buying advice or workshop - sorry if the wrong one!

I'm in need of a torque wrench, looking circa £40 or below. Mainly wanted for BB and Cranks/Pedals, but will always find other uses..
Does anyone have any specific recommendations? Ideally, I want one that's actually quite accurate and will stay accurate for a couple of years light use without recalibrating - meaning that it should be documented calibrated at manufacturer, and capable of re-calibration!

Is this too much of a big ask at this price range?

Thanks in advance,

rolf_f

You don't really need a torque wrench for those - but that said I have one. £15 in Lidl. German made. No calibration certificate. Doesn't need it - there's not really a fine line between too loose and too tight at these sort of torques on a bike. IMO!

wolfsbane2k

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19721180#p19721180]Rolf F[/url] wrote:

You don't really need a torque wrench for those - but that said I have one. £15 in Lidl. German made. No calibration certificate. Doesn't need it - there's not really a fine line between too loose and too tight at these sort of torques on a bike. IMO!

I know it's not essential, but I've always been nervous about doing things up too tight after trashing a very expensive piece of kit at work due to not having a torque wrench for tightening up alu, so having got a creaking drivetrain, which I think is the BB working loose and and tightening wasn't enough, so I want to ensure I don't bugger up a 7 week old bike.
I missed Aldi's wrench last week, just noticed that it was on. Might detour via my local one and pray it's still in stock.
There are calibrated ones for ~£25/30 , stuff like sealeys or wiggle's own "lifeline essential" wrench, which seem reasonable for the home maintainer, but would prefer feedback if possible.

Man Of Lard

Sealey STW1011/1012 (depending on whether you need 2-24 or 7-112Nm) - works a treat and if it lasts like other Sealey tools in my tool cabinet, it'll be good for a long time.

rolf_f

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19721216#p19721216]Wolfsbane2k[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19721180#p19721180]Rolf F[/url] wrote:

You don't really need a torque wrench for those - but that said I have one. £15 in Lidl. German made. No calibration certificate. Doesn't need it - there's not really a fine line between too loose and too tight at these sort of torques on a bike. IMO!

I know it's not essential, but I've always been nervous about doing things up too tight after trashing a very expensive piece of kit at work due to not having a torque wrench for tightening up alu, so having got a creaking drivetrain, which I think is the BB working loose and and tightening wasn't enough, so I want to ensure I don't bugger up a 7 week old bike.
I missed Aldi's wrench last week, just noticed that it was on. Might detour via my local one and pray it's still in stock.
There are calibrated ones for ~£25/30 , stuff like sealeys or wiggle's own "lifeline essential" wrench, which seem reasonable for the home maintainer, but would prefer feedback if possible.

That's exactly why I got one! The calibration doesn't really matter because all you need is to find something that will do once and the torque wrench will repeat it next time. So really I think the Aldi/Lidl variety are fine. If Aldi have just done one it will probably be Lidls turn soon enough!

wolfsbane2k

Well, just picked up the ALDI one as it's on this week.
It's not calibrated, but for the tolerances needed on the bike it should be sufficient.

ayjaycee

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19721180#p19721180]Rolf F[/url] wrote:

That's exactly why I got one! The calibration doesn't really matter because all you need is to find something that will do once and the torque wrench will repeat it next time.

Sorry, I am probably being thicker than usual but what does this mean? If the wrench is inaccurate, it will tighten to the wrong torque the first time, the second time and every time after that and if you have not got a calibration point to work to, you will have no idea how tight (or loose) that is. By coincidence, I've just got back from Aldi where I looked at their torque wrench - yes it was only £15.99 but it looked and felt like it as well. It's probably not a fair comparison but next to my low range (3 - 15 NM, I think) £80 Park Tools wrench, the Aldi one felt like it was a North Korean knock off of a cheap Chinese tool.

keydon

I have a problem in that direction as well, I bought an all carbon, top spec. R5 on here and have adjusted nothing as I know nothing and have no torque wrench.

I don't know what torque is for my 3T bars, attached to an FSA carbon stem and then there is the 3T Dorico seat post? I have not got deaf hoggiest!!

The bike goes great but I know I'm not fitting it proper like.

ayjaycee

Keydon. It's a very personal opinion but was I you, I wouldn't touch those particular components without using a torque wrench. Neither should be done too tightly (probably in the range of 4 to 6 NM but a bit of googling will give you the accurate numbers) and, on such an expensive bike, spending another £40 is a no-brainer. I bought a more expensive one but a mate of mine bought one from Superstar Components for under £40 and it seems to be as accurate as mine, albeit not quite as well finished. Also, don't forget that you will also need some carbon assembly paste, at least for the seat post. Now that stuff is expensive for what you get but a tube would probably last a lifetime.

daniel_b

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19721230#p19721230]Man Of Lard[/url] wrote:

Sealey STW1011/1012 (depending on whether you need 2-24 or 7-112Nm) - works a treat and if it lasts like other Sealey tools in my tool cabinet, it'll be good for a long time.

This to a tee - Amazon link here, but probably available cheaper elsewhere:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-8-inch-2-24nm-1-47-17-70lb-ft-Micrometer/dp/B000RO1ZCG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1447236678&sr=8-2&keywords=sealey+torque+wrench

I also then bought a 27-100 (or something) version as well.

Proper quality component.

Teamed mine up with this
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-Expert-21932-40-Piece-Tx-Star/dp/B0001K9R6W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1447236769&sr=8-5&keywords=draper+bit+set

As recommended by someone on here a few years ago.

keydon

ayjaycee wrote:

Keydon. It's a very personal opinion but was I you, I wouldn't touch those particular components without using a torque wrench. Neither should be done too tightly (probably in the range of 4 to 6 NM but a bit of googling will give you the accurate numbers) and, on such an expensive bike, spending another £40 is a no-brainer. I bought a more expensive one but a mate of mine bought one from Superstar Components for under £40 and it seems to be as accurate as mine, albeit not quite as well finished. Also, don't forget that you will also need some carbon assembly paste, at least for the seat post. Now that stuff is expensive for what you get but a tube would probably last a lifetime.

I didn't and eventually plunged on the £38.99 one at Planet X , only to see them flash sale it for £29.99 a week later, but I've recovered from that.

It does not work for the left side pedal(one direction torque control) and cannot do the FSA K-force light crankset , but I figured a way around that, I developed a terrible creak, which may be terminal, but I'll live with and replace with Sora if necessary. I was out on the bling bike last night and it's like a tornado'I suspect now that I had wind assistance, but I have to be angry to get it going, the creak was gone. But thanks for your advice. I know it's hard to get really good stuff cheap, but I have great patience and shallow pockets.

Poitr

Regarding calibration, a click type wrench is very easy to calibrate yourself. I use a digital scale. Set wrench to 20Nm ie 2kgm put wrench on a big tight nut somewhere. Hook digital baggage scale onto wrench at 33cm from pivot and the scale should read 6kg just as the wrench goes click. If it reads less you undo the lock nut and apply half a turn more tension to the spring and test again if it reads more you back off the spring tension. Pretty simple really.

daniel_b

keydon wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

Keydon. It's a very personal opinion but was I you, I wouldn't touch those particular components without using a torque wrench. Neither should be done too tightly (probably in the range of 4 to 6 NM but a bit of googling will give you the accurate numbers) and, on such an expensive bike, spending another £40 is a no-brainer. I bought a more expensive one but a mate of mine bought one from Superstar Components for under £40 and it seems to be as accurate as mine, albeit not quite as well finished. Also, don't forget that you will also need some carbon assembly paste, at least for the seat post. Now that stuff is expensive for what you get but a tube would probably last a lifetime.

I didn't and eventually plunged on the £38.99 one at Planet X , only to see them flash sale it for £29.99 a week later, but I've recovered from that.

It does not work for the left side pedal(one direction torque control) and cannot do the FSA K-force light crankset , but I figured a way around that, I developed a terrible creak, which may be terminal, but I'll live with and replace with Sora if necessary. I was out on the bling bike last night and it's like a tornado'I suspect now that I had wind assistance, but I have to be angry to get it going, the creak was gone. But thanks for your advice. I know it's hard to get really good stuff cheap, but I have great patience and shallow pockets.

My Sealey works on my left hand pedal.
I simply rotate the wrench 180 degrees, ie you are almost operating it through the bike.
That's with a crow foot adapter.

ayjaycee

Keydon, What sort of range is the PX torque wrench designed for? - I would be wary of those that would do the delicate stuff like stems / handlebars (4-6NM) as well as the tighter stuff like cranks / BBs / pedals which are all probably much higher (ie. perhaps in the 35 - 40NM range). I confess that I have never had to remove or tighten a BB but I have removed and fitted pedals and never bothered with torque wrench as the required 40NM on mine is pretty 'tight' (whatever that means!). I did once check the tightness of one of my pedals with a torque wrench after doing it up 'using the force' to find that it was still not tight enough to trigger it when set to 40NM. I decided to leave it well alone as I was reluctant to give it even more welly and I've never had a pedal come off yet. For that reason, I have never yet tested whether my 'big wrench' (a cheapish) Draper works in both directions but I do know that it is reasonably accurate as I have checked it against a very expensive and regularly calibrated wrench in a mates car workshop. I suspect the real difference is that his Snap On wrench will stand up to a lot of use over a long period of time whereas mine would not - but it doesn't really need to in a home environment with relatively infrequent use.