I've been reading through the countless threads on here about the seemingly limitless options and opinions on torque wrenches.
I'm very much a beginner and am planning on swapping all the components from my current frame to a new frame that I just purchased. I've got Zinn's book and see the charts listed for most all the parts on my bike and from other threads and the interwebs, have found pretty much all necessary torque specs for every piece on my bike. I'd like to do this right and properly torque everything. I don't have any carbon parts, so I could probably get by without, but I'll just feel better knowing that I did things right.
Money is unfortunately a concern and I understand that you get what you pay for. I'm just looking to be a home mechanic who wants to use this project to be able to fix my own bikes if needed. I also plan on doing any work to my wife's road bike and both our mountain bikes. It'll save so much money in the long run if I just learn to do this stuff myself. I really don't see the the torque wrenches being used that often, just this major bike overhaul and then after that, whenever we swap out a component here or there and fixes, etc. No heavy regular use.
From other threads, the discussion tends to range from, "I don't use one, you don't need to either." to "Get cheap ones, they'll work fine." to "Only get a very high quality product or you'll regret it."
I accept that I can't get high end ones and also know that I personally should have at least something around just to be safe. I also gather from previous threads that I would truly want two, one for the low range and one for the high range. So, would the following be fine?
1/4" Harbor Freight Click style - 20-200 In/Lbs. (For stem and low level torques)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=2696
$19.99
3/8" Harbor Freight Click style - 0-80 Ft/Lbs. (For crank, bottom bracket, etc. higher level torques)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...Itemnumber=807
$14.99
The prices of those two are insanely low, which makes me feel that the quality might be just as low. It seems too low.
I've also found this beam style from Craftsman at Sears - 0-75 Ft/Lbs.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...icationsAnchor
$29.99
Seems in line with the park tool beam style wrenches.
I've seen the Park tool beam styles for around $40 each with their click styles running in the $80 range. I've looked at the click style models ranging from Craftsman to the Home Depot and Lowe's brands ranging from $75 to $120 each. No matter how perfect the real high end stuff is, I'm just not even going to consider looking at models that are hundreds of dollars.
I apologize if I'm beating a dead horse here. There is way too many options out there and I have no idea what is truly necessary for your average home mechanic.
I also don't truly know whether I'd just need beam style or click style. I just got a bike stand and don't feel like I won't be able to see that beam from any angle or position.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Also, if there are any other decent enough quality, inexpensive torque wrenches out there that I didn't mention, let me know. Thanks.