Torque Wrench/Key

laurentian

I've seen a few about but does anyone have any recommendations or experience (good or bad) with the various torque wrenches / keys on the market?

I am after someting that can:

1) be accurately adjusted to the various (comparatively low) settings likely to be encountered when spannering the bike
2) accept the various hex key sizes likely to be encountered when spannering the bike

Thanks in advance

imposter2.0

Ritchey Torque Key is pretty much all you need..

cgfw201

I was about to ask something similar.

I've got a 5nm Topeak one which is great for all bolts on the stem, saddle and seatpost.

However I need one that can do 48-52nm for my Quarq cranks which I'm about to start transferring between road and TT bikes once the TT build is finished.

Any tips for one that can do that range would be good.

arlowood

Imposter wrote:

Ritchey Torque Key is pretty much all you need..

+1 for the Ritchey but if you have disc brakes then you need some Torx drive heads to cope with the rotor fixing bolts.

I got one of the Wiggle Lifeline sets that I reckon is adequate for all my needs

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essent ... 60671412uk

The Lifeline set only goes up to 24Nm so no help to cgfw201 for his Quarq cranks

Man Of Lard

Sealey STW1011 (7-112Nm)
Sealey STW1012 (2-24Nm)

Job jobbed for all eventualities. Both come with a calibration certificate & should be gettable for under £30 each.

grenw

I've got the smaller Sealey one above but the Ritchey torque key I also have that was far cheaper does most jobs on the bike.

laurentian

Imposter wrote:

Ritchey Torque Key is pretty much all you need..

Thanks - would I need a different key for each torque setting though? - the ones I see have, for example, 5nm written on them . . .

laurentian

Man Of Lard wrote:

Sealey STW1011 (7-112Nm)
Sealey STW1012 (2-24Nm)

Job jobbed for all eventualities. Both come with a calibration certificate & should be gettable for under £30 each.

That looks like the type of thing . . . presumeably the compatible sockets are easy enough to get hold of?

daniel_b

Man Of Lard wrote:

Sealey STW1011 (7-112Nm)
Sealey STW1012 (2-24Nm)

Job jobbed for all eventualities. Both come with a calibration certificate & should be gettable for under £30 each.

+1 I have the first one and a second sealey that runs from 27 (Predomincantly for fitting Vectors) to something or other.
Good and solid, no complaints.

Man Of Lard

laurentian wrote:

Man Of Lard wrote:

Sealey STW1011 (7-112Nm)
Sealey STW1012 (2-24Nm)

Job jobbed for all eventualities. Both come with a calibration certificate & should be gettable for under £30 each.

That looks like the type of thing . . . presumeably the compatible sockets are easy enough to get hold of?

3/8" sockets are pretty much standard fare for the normal home mechanic. Even Halfords sell them.

Personally I have a sizable collection of 3/8" sockets, ratchets breaker bars and drivers, a sizable collection of 1/4" sockets and a 3/8-1/4 converter socket...

Typically the bigger the square drive part, the more you'll pay per socket (and they'll generally be for larger nuts too)

daniel_b

Man Of Lard wrote:

laurentian wrote:

Man Of Lard wrote:

Sealey STW1011 (7-112Nm)
Sealey STW1012 (2-24Nm)

Job jobbed for all eventualities. Both come with a calibration certificate & should be gettable for under £30 each.

That looks like the type of thing . . . presumeably the compatible sockets are easy enough to get hold of?

3/8" sockets are pretty much standard fare for the normal home mechanic. Even Halfords sell them.

Personally I have a sizable collection of 3/8" sockets, ratchets breaker bars and drivers, a sizable collection of 1/4" sockets and a 3/8-1/4 converter socket...

Typically the bigger the square drive part, the more you'll pay per socket (and they'll generally be for larger nuts too)

I have this one - overkill for sure, but it's not a lot of cash really is it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-33323-Pce-Torx-Mechanics/dp/B00HNU6JVE/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1491926741&sr=8-12&keywords=draper+bit+set

Man Of Lard

As long as it has all that you need, it's not size that matters... the only reason my collection is so large is that I used to do my own engine rebuilding... so I have sockets in both shallow & deep; hex drivers, torx drivers,... and then I've inherited tool sets from relatives no longer with us.

meanredspider

I've half a dozen torque wrenches of various shapes and sizes yet, for the bike, 99% of the time I use the Ritchey torque key. The one exception is my Stages crank PM which, if memory serves, needs 12Nm. I'd be very wary of putting that 7-112Nm thing near a bike.

laurentian

meanredspider wrote:

I've half a dozen torque wrenches of various shapes and sizes yet, for the bike, 99% of the time I use the Ritchey torque key. The one exception is my Stages crank PM which, if memory serves, needs 12Nm. I'd be very wary of putting that 7-112Nm thing near a bike.

Interesting . . . what would your reservation be? I can only guess inaccurate settings?

As far as I can see, the Sealy 7-112Nm wrench comes with a certificate of calibration . . .

meanredspider

laurentian wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I've half a dozen torque wrenches of various shapes and sizes yet, for the bike, 99% of the time I use the Ritchey torque key. The one exception is my Stages crank PM which, if memory serves, needs 12Nm. I'd be very wary of putting that 7-112Nm thing near a bike.

Interesting . . . what would your reservation be? I can only guess inaccurate settings?

As far as I can see, the Sealy 7-112Nm wrench comes with a certificate of calibration . . .

Not the settings - I see it comes with +/- 4% accuracy (be interested to know of what) - it's like any tool though: I'm sure you could knock a panel pin in with a 5lb hammer but you wouldn't try. I'm sure you could apply 7Nm of torque with that wrench but it's also designed to apply 112Nm so it's far from the ideal tool. I don't know if you heard of "gage R&R" (look it up if interested) but it basically measure the capability of system (which includes the user) to measure something repeatable and reliably. I'm suggesting that the ability of that tool with anything other than a skilled user to apply 7Nm would be poor. As it is, it's not uncommon to see torque wrenches used poorly.

I don't know what the highest torque you're likely to see on a bike is but I'm guessing it's not much above 25Nm for all but the largest jobs (BB maybe). The 2-24Nm wrench is far more appropriate. If you dabble in car maintenance and find yourself rebuilding engines or changing car wheel bearings, the larger tool may be worth buying in addition - but I doubt you'd ever use it on the bike if you had the smaller one.

HTH

imposter2.0

laurentian wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Ritchey Torque Key is pretty much all you need..

Thanks - would I need a different key for each torque setting though? - the ones I see have, for example, 5nm written on them . . .

I only have the 5nm key. The only things I used the torque key for are stem, bar clamp and seat clamp bolts - most of which usually require between 4-6nm. Other than the previously mentioned powermeter bolts (which I don't have anyway) I can't really think of anything else on the bike where a torque number is critical.

meanredspider

One of the great things about that torque key is that, unless you're a gorilla, it would be very difficult to over-torque something. It's also ideal for sticking in a pocket when you're out experimenting with bike set-up.

slowbike

Another +1 for the ritchey torque key... it's only used for those items like stem bolts on carbon steerer ..
If you want 6nm instead of 5nm - do it up to 5nm and then tweak it a bit more.

PM's seem to be the only parts sensitive to particular torque - although I've never bothered on my Stages and the PM reading pretty much matches that of my turbo ... as Power is just an interest to me rather than an absolute training tool I'm not that bothered...

Matthewfalle

And another for the Ritchey torque key for about £12 - I got mine from Sigma and it comes with a load of different bits on an integral twirly bit. Really nice design.

Basically everything apart from the cassette lock ring is 5Nm or thereabouts on a bike - don't fret ye if it says "max 6Nm" and you have a 5Nm key as 6 is the max and 5 is perfect.

laurentian

meanredspider wrote:

laurentian wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

I've half a dozen torque wrenches of various shapes and sizes yet, for the bike, 99% of the time I use the Ritchey torque key. The one exception is my Stages crank PM which, if memory serves, needs 12Nm. I'd be very wary of putting that 7-112Nm thing near a bike.

Interesting . . . what would your reservation be? I can only guess inaccurate settings?

As far as I can see, the Sealy 7-112Nm wrench comes with a certificate of calibration . . .

Not the settings - I see it comes with +/- 4% accuracy (be interested to know of what) - it's like any tool though: I'm sure you could knock a panel pin in with a 5lb hammer but you wouldn't try. I'm sure you could apply 7Nm of torque with that wrench but it's also designed to apply 112Nm so it's far from the ideal tool. I don't know if you heard of "gage R&R" (look it up if interested) but it basically measure the capability of system (which includes the user) to measure something repeatable and reliably. I'm suggesting that the ability of that tool with anything other than a skilled user to apply 7Nm would be poor. As it is, it's not uncommon to see torque wrenches used poorly.

I don't know what the highest torque you're likely to see on a bike is but I'm guessing it's not much above 25Nm for all but the largest jobs (BB maybe). The 2-24Nm wrench is far more appropriate. If you dabble in car maintenance and find yourself rebuilding engines or changing car wheel bearings, the larger tool may be worth buying in addition - but I doubt you'd ever use it on the bike if you had the smaller one.

HTH

That is very helpful and just what I came here for. Thank you.

From the other very helpful comments, I'll have a better look at the recommended torque on my bike but, as I can't conceive of anything else I need to use it for other than the bike, it looks like I just need a 5Nm Ritchey torque key.

Thanks all - much appreciated

daniel_b

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

imposter2.0

Daniel B wrote:

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

There's not really any such thing as a torque setting for the top cap bolt (is that what you mean by 'compression nut'?) - it just needs nipping up to take the play out of the headset, before tightening the stem bolts.

As for the saddle rail clamps, I've never bothered torqing those - I just wind them up 'tight'.

meanredspider

Daniel B wrote:

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

Yup - the Vectors are a whole different kettle of ballgames - as I recall, you also need a crowfoot spanner.

meanredspider

Imposter wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

There's not really any such thing as a torque setting for the top cap bolt (is that what you mean by 'compression nut'?) - it just needs nipping up to take the play out of the headset, before tightening the stem bolts.

As for the saddle rail clamps, I've never bothered torqing those - I just wind them up 'tight'.

The compression nut is what goes into the steerer to which the tap cap screws. They normally need winding up enough so they seat reliably but not so tight that you split the steerer tube.

daniel_b

meanredspider wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

Yup - the Vectors are a whole different kettle of ballgames - as I recall, you also need a crowfoot spanner.

Yes fair call, though mine as a pair came with one, bizarrely the single sided ones do not...........

Imposter wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Off the top of my head, my Vector pedals need 40nm, and my Ritchey seatposts saddle clamps require a whopping (imho) 12nm, so the Ritchey one was not sufficient for me.
Oh and also I have just remembered the compression nut for the steerer was 8nm.

There's not really any such thing as a torque setting for the top cap bolt (is that what you mean by 'compression nut'?) - it just needs nipping up to take the play out of the headset, before tightening the stem bolts.

As for the saddle rail clamps, I've never bothered torqing those - I just wind them up 'tight'.

Maybe wrong terminology used - this is the compression nut that fits inside the steerer, and allows you to then tighten up the top cap - a few people fell foul of it who bought Scott CR1's - but I found a Scott video that recommended 8nm, and when this was done, it was fine.

It's like an expanding bung, rather than a star nut.

The Ritchey is a bit different, and perhaps a flawed design, only one bolt, and as I can testify, if you don't have it at 11 or 12nm, it is liable to slip and tilt radically when you least want it to :shock:

Having said that, once I have it at the right setting, I can unwind it say 3 or 4 turns to make an adjustment, and then just tighten it up the same number of revolutions, and don't worry about getting the torque wrench out in those instances.