Torque wrench

[Simminney]

Hey guys, I’m taking delivery of a spanking new Cube Stereo tomorrow. I’m like a kid at Christmas! Not sure I’ll sleep tonight!

I’ve bought some carbon bars that I want to add before riding the bike, is it necessary to use a torque wrench or can I just be careful not to tighten them too much when fitting?
If anyone has any experience with this I’d be very grateful for your thoughts.

Cheers.

 

[Mcharza]

Better buy a torque wrench. This is cheep and good enough Essential Torque Wrench Set

 

[Simminney]

Better buy a torque wrench. This is cheep and good enough Essential Torque Wrench Set

Ok thank you!

 

[steve_sordy]

Use carbon fibre assembly gel. It has rough squashy bits in it that maximise grip, so reduced torque is required. It is also great when clamping dropper seat posts as the delicate innards are not squashed.
Like this:

Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fibre Assembly Gel | Tredz Bikes

Save 10% - Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fibre Assembly Gel from £8.99 or available with 0% APR finance on baskets over £99. All Bike lubricants are delivered free to the UK mainland*, 365 day returns & Price Match. Buy Now.

www.tredz.co.uk

 

[Simminney]

Use carbon fibre assembly gel. Its has rough squashy bits in it that maximise grip, so reduced torque is required. It is also great when clamping dropper seat posts as the delicate innards are not squashed.
Like this:

Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fibre Assembly Gel | Tredz Bikes

Save 10% - Finish Line Fiber Grip Carbon Fibre Assembly Gel from £8.99 or available with 0% APR finance on baskets over £99. All Bike lubricants are delivered free to the UK mainland*, 365 day returns & Price Match. Buy Now.

www.tredz.co.uk

Will do, thanks!!

 

[Tobers]

This is an excellent little torque wrench set

Pro Torque Wrench

Buy your LifeLine Pro Torque Wrench - Wrenches from Wiggle. Our price £84.99. Free worldwide delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

 

[Simminney]

This is an excellent little torque wrench set

Pro Torque Wrench

Buy your LifeLine Pro Torque Wrench - Wrenches from Wiggle. Our price £84.99. Free worldwide delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

I ended up buying this, needed next day delivery and am eating beans on toast as it is!
Thanks for your input guys, it’s much appreciated!

 

[RustyIron]

Carbon Fiber Assembly Gel might indeed be useful in preventing slippage where the design of the parts does not provide sufficient clamping force, but I wouldn't use it indiscriminately. The particles in the gel are abrasive and will scratch your fancy bike parts.

This got me curious whether my own experience was an anomaly, or if it was a repeatable phenomenon. So before I clicked the "post reply" button, I went down to the garage and found a piece of plastic sheet. I drew a circle with a big Sharpie, put a dab of Fiber Grip on my finger, and rubbed it on the plastic. The scratching was immediate, as you can see in the attached picture. The reflections are 4' light tubes, and the scratched area shows no distinct reflection. When I wiped off the compound with a rag, it scratched off the Sharpie ink.

 

[Simminney]

Thanks guys, will be taking your advice and using the carbon paste. Am fitting a new dropper post too so will put some there as well.
Thanks all ??????

 

[The Hodge]

I ended up buying this, needed next day delivery and am eating beans on toast as it is!
Thanks for your input guys, it’s much appreciated!

Lucky bugger ..I cant afford the beans yet...?
Enjoy your new toy ..

 

[Simminney]

Lucky bugger ..I cant afford the beans yet...?
Enjoy your new toy ..

I don’t feel very lucky at the moment, sat in a pile of bolts and bike bits trying to put her back together ?

 

[Geoffdy]

I might be a bit anal on my bikes
But use a torque wrench on every bolt.
There fairly cheap against replacing an expensive carbon part.

 

[Simminney]

Thanks for your help guys, her she is in all her glory!

 

[lightning]

This is an excellent little torque wrench set

Pro Torque Wrench

Buy your LifeLine Pro Torque Wrench - Wrenches from Wiggle. Our price £84.99. Free worldwide delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

That's exactly what l just bought, it's superb, really easy to use and can be used to loosen bolts as well.
Not all torque wrenches can be used to loosen bolts.

 

[Simminney]

That's exactly what l just bought, it's superb, really easy to use and can be used to loosen bolts as well.
Not all torque wrenches can be used to loosen bolts.

Yeah that looks a great set! Tbf though for what I paid for that topeak tool it’s a bargain!

 

[carlbiker]

do our cranks need anything higher to tighten upto? Some bikes seem to suggest 40nm but maybe not relevant, I had to hand tighten my cranks caps as I didn’t know what to go upto, I’ve not had the actual crank out yet either

Bicycle Torque Table

A Torque Table For Bicycles. Don't Over Tighten Nuts & Bolts. Do It Right, Use This Torque Guide.

www.dedhambike.com

 

[Akelu]

I did a lot of research and ended up on this one, i highly recommend it.
2-20nm in 0.1 increments. Feels great/not cheap. I think it will last a long time.

I like that it goes low and high, so it does nearly all the bolts on an EMTB including your suspension pivots.

Pro Bike Tool 1/4 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench Set - 2 to 20 Nm - Bicycle Maintenance Kit for Road & Mountain Bikes, Motorcycle Multitool - Includes Allen & Torx Sockets, Extension Bar & Storage Box : Amazon.com.au: Sports, Fitness & Outdoors

Pro Bike Tool 1/4 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench Set - 2 to 20 Nm - Bicycle Maintenance Kit for Road & Mountain Bikes, Motorcycle Multitool - Includes Allen & Torx Sockets, Extension Bar & Storage Box : Amazon.com.au: Sports, Fitness & Outdoors

www.amazon.com.au

 

[carlbiker]

I did a lot of research and ended up on this one, i highly recommend it.
2-20nm in 0.1 increments. Feels great/not cheap. I think it will last a long time.

I like that it goes low and high, so it does nearly all the bolts on an EMTB including your suspension pivots.

Pro Bike Tool 1/4 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench Set - 2 to 20 Nm - Bicycle Maintenance Kit for Road & Mountain Bikes, Motorcycle Multitool - Includes Allen & Torx Sockets, Extension Bar & Storage Box : Amazon.com.au: Sports, Fitness & Outdoors

Pro Bike Tool 1/4 Inch Drive Click Torque Wrench Set - 2 to 20 Nm - Bicycle Maintenance Kit for Road & Mountain Bikes, Motorcycle Multitool - Includes Allen & Torx Sockets, Extension Bar & Storage Box : Amazon.com.au: Sports, Fitness & Outdoors

www.amazon.com.au

I own that one also, 1/2 drive one but you’ve said ‘nearly all’ so what you going to do for the other ones beyond 20nm?

 

[steve_sordy]

.........
Not all torque wrenches can be used to loosen bolts.

Yep, I have a knackered torque wrench in front of me now, All I did was try to torque up a left hand thread. The wrench even had one of those little levers you flick over to drive in the opposite direction. Why fit one of those if torqueing a left hand thread breaks it? Only in fine print in the instructions does it say for tightening only. So what's wrong with tightening a left hand thread?
Rant over!

 

[KennyB]

I have 3 torque tools:
2-20 Nm for most of them;
28 to RFT Nm from car maintenance days which I use for fork top caps, cassette tools and bottom brackets, mainly;
and a 0.2-2 Nm screwdriver for all the little ones on my Levo (for example, the TCU securing bolt is 0.8Nm, strip the thread in the frame and that's your day spoilt) and controls.

 

[KenX]

I've got 2, a 0-10Nm direct-reading type and a 5-25 Nm click type, actually got 3 if you include the 40-150Nm car wrench! My mate ( a roadie) is wishing he'd asked me about torque wrenches before he leant on his allen key to stop his BMC carbon framed seat post slipping and crushed it, only €200, hey-ho.........

 

[Akelu]

but you’ve said ‘nearly all’ so what you going to do for the other ones beyond 20nm?

Well the only one i can think of is cassette which is 40nm.
From what i've read online, it seems most people don't use a torque wrench for the cassette, just do it 'damn tight' lol.
I plan on asking my LBS if they have a 40nm torque wrench that i could try use to just get an idea of how much torque i need to put through it. I'll just use the specific tool for it (like this PRO Team Cassette Lockring Tool - Shimano 12 Speed )

 

[Calsun]

The problem with people working on bicycles is their use of automotive tools. Take a 10" long wrench or a standard ratched wrench and it is easy to apply 2-3 times as much torque as with smaller tools. Look at the Park Tools special bicycle tools and you can get an idea as to how small a tool is really needed. I remember in the 1960's when people would come in with the 8mm bolt tweaked off that held the front derailler in place as it takes very little force to to this with such a small diameter bolt with a cross section of 3-4 mm for the threaded section.

There is no where near the vibration with a bicycle as one gets with a motorcycle and even if there was this is where split washers (once compressed flat no need to tighten further) or the use of Loctite is best.

Where a torque wrench can be helpful is in having a novice better appreciate how little force is actually required to tighten parts on a bicycle.

 

[akbud]

Better buy a torque wrench. This is cheep and good enough Essential Torque Wrench Set

I have that set and it's quite good.

 

[cabbynate]

Carbon Fiber Assembly Gel might indeed be useful in preventing slippage where the design of the parts does not provide sufficient clamping force, but I wouldn't use it indiscriminately. The particles in the gel are abrasive and will scratch your fancy bike parts.

This got me curious whether my own experience was an anomaly, or if it was a repeatable phenomenon. So before I clicked the "post reply" button, I went down to the garage and found a piece of plastic sheet. I drew a circle with a big Sharpie, put a dab of Fiber Grip on my finger, and rubbed it on the plastic. The scratching was immediate, as you can see in the attached picture. The reflections are 4' light tubes, and the scratched area shows no distinct reflection. When I wiped off the compound with a rag, it scratched off the Sharpie ink.
View attachment 66117

I scratched up a Rockshox Reverb dropper with the Park Tool stuff. I used grease on my AXS dropper and at 5.5 nm torque and it hasn't moved on me yet.

 

[McSuisse]

Bought this one from Wiggle recently. Does the job.

 

[Manc44]

The best one I have used, although it's always fixed at 5Nm, is the Ritchey Torque Key.

They should swap out the Philips bit for a 6mm allen IMO.

It's not cheap (around £20) but it's probably my most used tool, for doing up stem face plate bolts, the fork steerer stem bolts (then tighten a tiny bit more after that because it can still move at 5Nm on a carbon steerer), the front mech band clamp, both front and rear mech cable bolts.

There's also the Park Tool ATD-1.2 that has 4Nm, 4.5Nm, 5Nm, 5.5Nm and 6Nm but that's a lot more expensive, around £70. Most of us don't swap bike parts on and off often enough to justify the cost but this would be a must have tool if you are fettling a lot.

I have a Cyclo torque wrench that was about £40 (does about 2Nm-20Nm) and while it's OK, I don't trust it to be calibrated properly. There's no way it's accurate under 5Nm either. I did calibrate it myself a while back but I still don't really trust it at anything requiring less than 10Nm. It's not used much, maybe at 12Nm for M6 brake caliper bolts, 15Nm for the rear mech main bolt etc.

Here's a bunch of calcs I created a while back, it includes one for working out torque force

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fx83xw5oejdft70/Bike%20Calcs.zip?dl=1

While that's not a torque wrench, it at least gives some indication of the forces.

When I got my Ritchey 5Nm torque key, the first thing I realized is 5Nm is a bit more than I thought it was. I had been doing up bolts on the slacker side for 20+ years lol