I put conventional nuts on all 4 of my brake blocks yesterday.

[night cycler]

I don't know the correct name of the nuts that came on the bike as standard. Allen nuts? The ones where you use an Allen key. I think the issue is I have some allen keys made of monkey metal. The end of the key was just spinning.

I prefer a normal nut. The thread on the brake blocks is M6. The (external) size of the nut requires a 10mm spanner, preferably a ring as oppised to open ended. Small enough spanner to keep with the bike. All threads best kept greased of course to avoid rusted on.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Could be super radical and go for the purchase of an allen key of steel to fit the 'as standard' hex nuts. Will/may also fit several other bolt on your(most) bikes. And a fraction of the weight and volume of a 10mm ring spanner (to carry).

 

[Dogtrousers]

Maybe you were using the wrong size hex key.

 

[Dadam]

Just get some decent hex keys. These are fantastic: https://amzn.eu/d/9mdsqKv
The nuts are probably made of cheese too. The Wera keys are properly hardened and won’t round off, and their end profile is designed to grip into the corners of pretty rounded out nuts.

 

[night cycler]

@Dadam
Thank you for the tip

 

[silva]

Those I bought in a supermarket, after inserting, I had to turn like 15 degrees before meeting resistence - starting to tension; brandnew - that much play.already. It's like mass manufacturing with wrong machine settings.

 

[simongt]

This is a big issue with tools and components; made of poor quality alloys and you won't know until there's a problem. With tools however, as has been alluded to, at least you can control the quality by buying a recognised reputable brand. But with bolts etc, you can be in unknown territory.

 

[Paulus]

This is a big issue with tools and components; made of poor quality alloys and you won't know until there's a problem. With tools however, as has been alluded to, at least you can control the quality by buying a recognised reputable brand. But with bolts etc, you can be in unknown territory.

Agreed. I always bought good quality tools. The majority of them are still in good condition, even after nearly 50 years use.
A lot of the alloy nuts and bolts that some bike manufacturers use are made of cheese, and should be disposed of and changed for stainless steel ones as soon as possible.

 

[Profpointy]

Buy a set of decent alen keys: Facom, bahco, Eklind, allen themselves, will all be fine and full set with a clippy holder will be under £20.

Allen screws are on-average stronger than normal screws. This isn't a fundamental feature of the design, it's just the spec they are usually made to (12.9 say) is stronger than the 10.8 of high tension bolts, and often normal bolts are far lower spec than that

 

[Ian H]

I presume you mean bolts, not nuts.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I presume you mean bolts, not nuts.

Was my immediate reaction too, Ian. But then realised these rim brakes might be nutted:
(and Merry Christmas)

 

[C R]

Was my immediate reaction too, Ian. But then realised these rim brakes might be nutted:
(and Merry Christmas)
View attachment 672070

Aren't all nutted like that?

 

[Ian H]

Aren't all nutted like that?

No, but Ajax is right that some are. In fact some of mine are. Must be too much Xmas spirit.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Those I bought in a supermarket, after inserting, I had to turn like 15 degrees before meeting resistence - starting to tension; brandnew - that much play.already. It's like mass manufacturing with wrong machine settings.

Could be you are trying to use Metric keys in Imperial bolts or the way around.

 

[silva]

Could be you are trying to use Metric keys in Imperial bolts or the way around.

The keys were sold and marked as metric, they never sell other than metric anyway.
And the bolts are metric too, other allen keys didn't have that much play, even those that IKEA delivers with some of their products.
It's really like mass manufacturing with wrong machine settings, OR, unbelievable bloopers alike putting sets in wrong boxes, ship them to supermarket stocks, that then distribute them over their stores, that put them for sale there, with nobody in the entire chain checking/testing the product.