As an exclusively home builder, I haven't bothered to get one yet.


I've never paid attention to the specs in the past and have been fine so far without them, I probably overtighten, but it's easy to feel how much force you need and how much you are exerting. I tend to tighten to the comfortable limit of the tool, so holding in a good-leverage position, tight enough that it doesn't move easily, but not so much that I have any pain in my hands. Tools tend to be sized fairly well for the job, and without tightening to the limit of your strength you reduce the chance of overtightening.

If I feel something getting loose or I know something needs to be tighter than usual, I tend to do that. I also have some sense of what bolts can be overtightened without problems (stem bolts for example, I often use a cheater bar on my hex key to make them extremely tight, with alloy components it hasn't been a problem). I would certainly consider a torque wrench if I was on a carbon frame though, something about the materials springiness but potential to fail dramatically makes me reconsider really clamping down on it. With metals you get little give, a little mark and a pretty firm stopping point when tightened, with more composite materials, you get a little more give and a less firm stopping point, plus the give turns into pent up energy that I wouldn't want waiting for me on impact.