Tool Time

[Dantheman]

since those are mostly on cockpit parts and are relatively low torque.

Hell, for those jobs even the mini beam ones you get when you buy a DTC bike work just fine.

[Full Trucker]

Looking to buy shop quality torque wrench(s) for my wife for Christmas - trust me she will love it. She is in her wood shop building the workbench for the bike maintenance room - she puts me to shame.

When we both took a bike mechanic course we used long torque wrenches that were digital. I’m thinking that to capture the range needed I may need to buy two.

Anything else I should be ensuring I look for? Or do I just buy the two park tool (not digital) ones?

Any advice appreciated

I just picked up the old version of the Range Torque ratchet from Feedback sports, and I like it just fine. It's on sale at 40% off. Admittedly, the newer version looks a lot nicer, but I'm a sucker for a sale.

https://feedbacksports.com/collectio...44803544645930

But really only good for the low-torque stuff like stem bolts, brake and shifter levers, seat post collar, etc.

[bamboocoreONLY]

daaaang that new Range is rad, 14nm on that small a torque wrench is sweet. I love my Silca T-handle torque but I wouldn't be mad to have both, always a fan of small ratchets as I already have the Topeak ratchet rocket.

[J. Barron DeJong]

I’d still recommend this Tekton:

https://www.tekton.com/1-4-inch-driv...trq21101#specs

Really nicely made for $60. Dual direction. Same quoted accuracy as that Feedback one, except the scale on the Tekton actually has resolution to it. 1.1 to 16.9 Nm. Still pretty small at under 9” long. And I love the spring collar adjustment.

[bennymac]

Thanks for all the help everyone. We have a T-handle one that lives in my bike travel bag for putting handlebars back on after travel.

My wife is interested in doing as much bike mechanic stuff as possible at home - mostly to our mountain bikes and fat bikes but also occasionally to our gravel bikes. What do you get the person who has everything? Well how about a torque wrench that she may only break out once a year to do major maintenance jobs!

[jm2e]

To me, torque wrenches on bikes is summarized by the repeated scenario of obsessing about it at home and online, then needing to make adjustments on the trail and just winging it with a clumsy multi tool. Both with similar outcomes.


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[nickwm21]

Very true.

And my $30 Amazon torque wrench looks suspiciously like that $60 Tekton linked above


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[John_B]

To me, torque wrenches on bikes is summarized by the repeated scenario of obsessing about it at home and online, then needing to make adjustments on the trail and just winging it with a clumsy multi tool. Both with similar outcomes.


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I had a stem faceplate break on a used bike I bought that scared the hell out of me but didn't wind up in a crash. Since that every bolt on my bars gets fine tuned with a torque wrench.

[jm2e]

I had a stem faceplate break on a used bike I bought that scared the hell out of me but didn't wind up in a crash. Since that every bolt on my bars gets fine tuned with a torque wrench.

Jesus Christ. Need more info. Stems are an indestructible block of metal. Literally the most durable, indestructible, and inconsequential thing on a bike. Was this made from some kind of experimental roadie carbon, or Walmart Chinesium alloy?


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[El Chupacabra]

Thomson - - certainly not a low end company - - had issues with faceplate breakage on their stems awhile back.

[John_B]

Jesus Christ. Need more info. Stems are an indestructible block of metal. Literally the most durable, indestructible, and inconsequential thing on a bike. Was this made from some kind of experimental roadie carbon, or Walmart Chinesium alloy?


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If I remember correctly it was a Race face Affect stem or similar. It was for sure a legit bike company not some AliExpress knockoff. I was riding at speed through some light chunder and heard/felt a bang as both pieces on the faceplate of the stem broke in 1 place each. They still kept the bars attached to the bike but there was no resistance to side to side motion or rolling forward/back. I managed to stop and thanked my lucky stars that was all that happened.

Like I said, I'd bought the bike used a few years prior to that and had never messed with the bar position. I'm not sure if they had been over torqued when installed but been quite cautious since then.

[Lvovsky]

Hell, for those jobs even the mini beam ones you get when you buy a DTC bike work just fine.

Like this?



I have a spare if anyone wants it for shipping and beer.

[VTskibum]

Thomson - - certainly not a low end company - - had issues with faceplate breakage on their stems awhile back.

Was replacing my Thomson stem for a shorter one on my Singlespeed (ton of torque on bars) and noticed my stem faceplate was cracked!! It had lived a good life but gave me the shivers thinking about what could have been. I’m pretty good about at least using one of those Ritchey bar/stem specific 4mm torque wrenches


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[Dantheman]

Like this?

Yeah. This is the one that Canyon gave me recently.

[singlesline]

This is the sweet one Intense gave me with the Costco bike


Nice thing is that unlike a lot of the random Amazon ones, the scale is in newtons rather than an imperial scale in whole numbers and some bastardized metric scale on the back

[Touring_Sedan]

On sale.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BCTT5NH

[jackstraw]

Torque wrench talk. I have a few and was using the Park Tool one yesterday (chasing down a creak) and as I torqued my hanger on it snapped! Maybe it was cracked and that was the creak!?

[jm2e]

That’s a solid deal there


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[Dantheman]

This is the sweet one Intense gave me with the Costco bike

Nice thing is that unlike a lot of the random Amazon ones, the scale is in newtons rather than an imperial scale in whole numbers and some bastardized metric scale on the back

Wow, that is nice.

[Andeh]

Wow, that is nice.

Agreed, I'd heard that they included one and assumed it was a chintzy flex beam one like YT does (like Dan showed in #839).

I've broken an Industry Nine A35 stem bolt using a Pro Tools (the Shimano tool brand) torque wrench to the printed torque specs. Luckily I was able to drill out the bolt in question very carefully. Damage to threads was pretty minimal, so I replaced the bolts with Ti BetterBolts ones, and stopped using that torque wrench. Also I now aim for the bottom or middle of torque ranges.

[Sandbox]

On sale.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BCTT5NH

I have this. I think it’s fairly decent for the price.


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[J. Barron DeJong]

Just because there could easily be confusion, that Pro Bike Tools wrench is not from the Shimano owned brand; it’s a different company.

This is the Shimano owned one:

https://www.pro-bikegear.com/us/tool.../torque-wrench

I don’t have experience with either.

[jm2e]

Honestly fellas, if you’re breaking bolts or face plates with torque wrenches it’s not because the torque wrench isn’t perfectly calibrated. It’s because of poor tolerances and QC from these bike companies.


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[rideit]

Do any of you have the OneUp EDC mini tool? Do you like it?
I ordered one, but debating on putting it on every bike.

[dannynoonan]

Do any of you have the OneUp EDC mini tool? Do you like it?
I ordered one, but debating on putting it on every bike.

I have the full size steerer EDC but it appears to use that same multi tool as the lite version (just includes some other shit too). It definitely works fine and is good quality.

The bolts holding the tool sandwich together started to loosen up which caused the whole thing to effectively become a tiny bit wider and wouldn't fit back into its holster, that was a minor trail inconvenience bc I didn't have another hex key to tighten it, so spent the rest of the ride in my pocket. So, my only helpful feedback is, check the fasteners on it periodically, or put a drop of loctite on them.