In praise of the torque wrench!

[Pale Rider]

I didn't know that, none of my three bikes has four, food for thought.

"Most" might be overstating it, a Brompton only has one bolt.

The handlebars on mine moved a bit when the bolt loosened, but there was never any danger of them falling off.

 

[screenman]

"Most" might be overstating it, a Brompton only has one bolt.

The handlebars on mine moved a bit when the bolt loosened, but there was never any danger of them falling off.

I had a quill stem bolt snap at the start of a 50, that could have been interesting had I not heard and seen it go.

 

[snorri]

The handlebars on mine moved a bit when the bolt loosened, but there was never any danger of them falling off.

The 'bars came very loose on mine when the bolt sheared with no audible warning during a tour.
Fortunately I was travelling very slowly and about to dismount, but the additional accommodation costs whilst a fix was being devised could have bought a large box full of torque wrenches.

 

[Ajax Bay]

I had a quill stem bolt snap

bars came very loose on mine when the bolt sheared

What's this got to do with torque wrenches? Did the bolts snap/shear because they were over (or under) torqued?
Or are these examples of what might happen if one over-torqued a bolt, and therefore designed to illustrate the criticality of some bolts.
Correct tightening bolts into carbon items is more assured with a torque wrench. Otherwise the benefits are debateable ^^^^.

 

[screenman]

It was a reply to Pale Rider, I would imagine in my case the bolt was over tightened.

 

[snorri]

Did the bolts snap/shear because they were over (or under) torqued?^.

My broken bolt was never subjected to analysis, but I had assumed it had been over torqued, something that would have been unlikely had a torque wrench been used.

 

[annirak]

In nearly 60 years I have never owned one and never needed one. The repair you carried out could have been done without a torque wrench.

You dont NEED one. You just want one.

You're right. I don't NEED it. My other option was to take the bike to the LBS and ask them to work out the creak. They have far more experience fixing bikes than I do and might have been able to do it without the torque wrench. It saved me a trip to the LBS and taught be a bit about what happens when you over-tighten bolts. I'd call it well worthwhile at less than £25

I don't see why people get so wound up about not needing torque wrenches. They're the right tool for the job. If there's a fixing torque spec'd on a component, the correct tool to tighten that component is a tool that fixes the component to the specified torque. That tool is a torque wrench. It is not guesswork and an allen key.

I don't know how tight 5Nm is. I can guess--I tried to guess and failed. I WANTED the creak to stop, I didn't NEED it to. But I also didn't know if the creak was an over-tightened bolt or a dangerous pre-failure noise.

 

[steveindenmark]

I'm not wound up about it but I've never used one on a bike or motorbike. I doubt if I could guess pressure down to a couple of Nm but maybe some people have a better feel for it than others.

But you do sound a bit wound up. Now you have a torque wrench maybe you need to use it on yourself

 

[Nigeyy]

For a long time, I never used a torque wrench, and just went by feel. Then (and being honest here because I love good tools) I went out and got a decent one. I've used it more on the car than anything else, but even then if I'm in a hurry and assuming its not the engine block (don't want to warp the head thanks!) I tend to just wing it. Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine by me -and if you think you have (or have) no mechanical feel, I most definitely could see it being necessary.

While usually a bike not an investment of similar financial magnitude as a car, I can say I'd certainly hesitate buying a car from someone who claims they rebuilt the engine with no torque wrench versus a person who does (and of course there are other factors, but all things equal, etc). And maybe that says it all -if I was buying a really really expensive bike I'd be much more comfortable knowing the mechanicky person who worked on it used a good torque wrench.

The place where I'd most certainly want a torque wrench though is carbon fibre; wouldn't like to accidentally over tighten that, and if I had a CF frame (which I don't) I'd definitely be using a good torque wrench on that -my opinion is you need one then. So, even though I don't really use one that much, I'm giving two thumbs up to it Horses for courses......

 

[annirak]

I'm not wound up about it but I've never used one on a bike or motorbike. I doubt if I could guess pressure down to a couple of Nm but maybe some people have a better feel for it than others.

But you do sound a bit wound up. Now you have a torque wrench maybe you need to use it on yourself

Ah, perhaps I misread the tone of your original comment

Anyway, solved a problem for me!