Originally Posted by
staehpj1
Your shop should do it, but...
Carrying a torque wrench on tour is a different matter. FWIW, back in my motorcycle racing days I experimented with checking torques of fasteners attached by feel and found that it wasn't that hard to hit them pretty close by feel. I mostly stopped using the torque wrench at that point, except for things where I thought it was especially critical.
Bottom line, while I don't think that is the right answer for someone who is being paid to work on other folks bikes, I personally would definitely not carry a torque wrench on tour.
On a side note... While not necessarily relevant to touring, I wonder how often the professional wrenches who maintain the bikes on the Pro Tour use torque wrenches. I would be willing to bet they don't use them at all for repairs during a race, but have no idea what they do in pre-race prepping.
And i didn't suggest bringing a torque wrench on tour either, but a poster or two referenced bringing a ritchey torqkey along with, a compact clicker wrench.
given the fracas over failing steerer tubes and crushed steerers and handlebars from overtightened stems, i suspect every pro wrench working a pro tour now uses a torque wrench for most fasteners and assembly.
-at least, every professionally minded mechanic uses one prepping bikes.
I recall lawsuits circulating around from stems being overtightened, FSA and specialized going on the defensive and denying culpability in some failure related to improper torque assembly.....
like i mentioned earlier, if you are bringing your carbon bike to a shop and the mechanic is proud of not using a torque wrench (the typisch "yeah, I know how tight things are by the feel") and never uses a torque wrench,
FIND ANOTHER SHOP.