Originally Posted by
lhorn
Did the instructions for the bars say to lubricate the threads? If not, then it was reasonable to torque the bars without lubricant. Do all of you lubricate the threads on all your bolts that you use a torque wrench on? I doubt it. We've all seen guys at the LBS who do this for a living adjust bars and seats for customers without a torque wrench.
I think some of you guys are looking for ways to make this the fault of the installer instead of a fairly fragile part. As I've said before even a top notch manufacterer will make a bum part once in a while and it sounds like the OP got one. It doesn't matter that the MAX torque spec was 5 and he could have gotten away with 3 or 4. If the bar cracked before 5, then the bar failed, it was not forced to fail by over torquing.
This is why wrenching takes some practice. You
always lubricate bolts. If you don't, you have, literally, no idea how tight your bolt is. And again, the "torque spec" written on the stem has nothing at all to do with the bars. The max torque spec is for the screw threads so you don't strip them, nothing more.
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