Originally Posted by
Bike Jedi
I would imagine I could find a spec for every single screw that needs to be torqued on a bike and how much. I honestly don't know how important as an amateur mechanic, I need to be worried about this, and I don't want to lay out the cost for a torque wrench right now if I don't need to for various reasons.
The bits on a bike that are most often over- or under-torqued are the seat post clamp and the stem. Too little torque, and they will slip. Too much torque, and the bolts will snap, or the threads will strip out.
If you don't have a torque wrench, gradually tighten these bolts until the saddle/bars don't move under heavy load.
But you really ought to invest in a small torque wrench, they are pretty cheap. Like
this one.
And for sure, never exceed the
maximum torque for the bolt size.