Any suggestions? I've recently bought a recumbent that requires the following:
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Tightening torques for screws
The values indicated are meant for a friction value µ=0,125 (greased threads and screw heads).They only refer to the in-
dicated parts.Please do always follow the values given in the manuals of the parts manufacturers since the following val-
ues may not be up to date due to changes in the product line!
part connection screw tightening torque
V-brake:
-brake lever handlebar/grip M6 SW5 4 Nm
-brake calliper calliper/frame M6 8–10 Nm
cable clamping 7–9 Nm
disc brake:
-brake lever handlebar/grip clamping M6 SW5 4 Nm
-brake lever compensation tank Torx T7 0,6 Nm
-brake calliper calliper/frame M6 SW5 6 Nm
-brake disc disk/hub M4 Torx T25 4 Nm
-brake housing brake lever SW8 4 Nm
dynamo dynamo/adaptor M6 SW5 6–8 Nm
adaptor/frame M5 SW4 4–6 Nm
suspension element element/frame M6 6–8 Nm
rear rack at the seat tube M6 SW5 8–10 Nm
rear swing arm axle/frame M8 17–19 Nm
b.b.set cartridge/frame 50–60 Nm
chain roller roller/frame M8 SW 6 17–19 Nm
crank crank/axle 35 Nm
chain ring screws 8–11 Nm
hub cassette ring 38–42 Nm
quick release wheel/frame 9–12 Nm
pedal pedal/crank SW15 35–40 Nm
shifter lever lever/adaptor 2,5–3 Nm
adaptor/handlebar SW6 5–6 Nm
derailleur derailleur/frame SW6 8–10 Nm
cable clamping 4–6 Nm
mudguard stay/frame M5 SW4 4–6 Nm
seat upper seat part / seat mt M6 SW4 5–6 Nm
lower seat part / frame M6 SW4 3–4 Nm
frame front boom clamping M8 SW6 14–16 Nm
front derailleur front derailleur/frame M5 SW5 5–6 Nm
cable clamping M5 SW5 4–6 Nm
USS stem length adjustment M6 SW5 8–10 Nm
main Axle / bearings 17–19 Nm
adaptor / steerer tube M8 SW6 30–32 Nm
headset clamp M5 SW4 4–6 Nm
steering rod / mounts M6 8–10 Nm
ASS stem stem / fork steerer tube M6 SW5 8–10 Nm
height adjustment M5 SW4 4–6 Nm

Hi. If you give us more than a text dump from an owner's manual, you'll probably get more responses. It is unclear from your post exactly what parts of your new recumbent need service/assembly.

What you copied into your post are torque specifications for how tight various bolts are to be tightened. If you search the forums you'll encounter many different philosophies about torque specs, but I think it's typical that mechanics tend to measure torques for particularly burly or critical parts (like cranks and stems) and for delicate parts (like carbon fiber bits) and do the rest by feel.

Park Tool makes a good pair of torque wrenches. I have the larger, 3/8" wrench, and it is quite satisfactory.

Definitely get a 3/8 and possibly a 1/2. Torque wrenches are best (most accurate) near their center range. Park's good, but a little pricey. Most auto parts stores would carry decent ones for half the price of the Parks. I just use old craftsman ones.

3/8 will take care of 90 percent, 1/2 for BB's and Lockrings (although 3/8 work fine on those too)

Those are all pretty low torque values, so a 3/8-drive will almost certainly be adequate. If any of those bolts or fasteners are too large for a 3/8 drive, you'll be saving money if you just get a 3/8-1/2 adaptor.
The only reason you should have to buy a 1/2-inch drive big-stick is for the higher torque values (40Nm or greater (which are seldom found on a bicycle.))
And shop around. I don't know what Park charges for them, but check your local Sears and/or hardware store.

Sorry about being vague; I figured the specifications from the manual would help give a range for a specific wrench. The bike is already fully assembled. It is a 20/20 folding recumbent, an HP Velotechnik Grasshopper FX, and has a carbon seat. I plan to take the bike touring eventually, so if there is a light-weight option available, all the better.

WHy don't you simply buy a torque wrench with the range you need? I don't get the question.

Torque-wrenches generally come in two ranges - both of which should be in your tool collection. One is from 0 - 60 inch-pounds. The other goes from 0 - 600 ip - in a gap of 50 ip on the bar. I find the beam types work fine. But many prefer the digital readout.

With more and more components specifying the use of these tools, there's really no reason to wing it and guess.

Alrighty then...here's the 3/8" Park Tool wrench I referred to:

https://www.lickbike.com/productpage....=%272609-00%27

I've done full bike builds/rebuilds with this wrench as the only torque-control device. It's very true that other beam-type torque wrenches also work well and may be cheaper.

You can probably avoid buying a torque wrench at all at this point - just enjoy your new ride and wait until something needs servicing. My impression is that all but the most pack-rattish tourists leave the torque wrench at home. It would be more valuable to train your hands to the point of torquing fasteners pretty close to spec just by feel.

One figure truly startled me when I read it. Seems when a researcher checked the torque on various cranksets & bottom-brackets, the majority of them put on by people without a torque-wrench read at 1/3rd to 1/2 the recommended torque-settings from the manufacturer.

I found this figure alarming. Perhaps this explains the high number of people asking for help with clicks, creaks, clunks etc. emanating from the bottom-bracket area.

If even that much!

Guilty as charged.

That's why I'd recommend that everyone use a torque wrench - if only for BB;s and lockrings, etc.

Been there, done that.

You want a 3/8ths torque wrench with the lowest starting inch pounds which Sears Craftsman doesn't really have one low enough for bikes, but their torque screwdriver is low enough and a good unit, but cost $150. https://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_101...rench&sLevel=0

You also want the thing to measure in foot INCHES not pounds, and you need to find one with the lowest starting point. Sears torque screwdriver does that but their wrenches do not start any lower then 20 and you need something lower then that. The Park others have mentioned is a very low inch pound starting. This one from Park is the best one (of 4 that they offer) for your situation because you need to go from 4 to 32nm and this one's range is from 0 to 70nm. https://www.parktool.com/products/det...13&item=TW%2D2

Be careful with beam type torque wrenches like the Park because if you drop them it could damage the beam then you got a piece of junk.

If you have a need for a professional quality torque wrench maybe for auto repair too, then go with the dial type like this from Proto, its about $187 but very accurate and very sturdy: https://www.stanleyproto.com/default....meter+Kilogram

That's inch-pounds rather than foot-pounds.

And unless he's good at math he should get one marked in metric, or newton-meters (Nm).

An inch-pounds scale is really useful only on small or carbon parts. For BBs and lock rings I use a big ole 1/2" drive. 3/8" is a fair compromise.

Beam types are more fragile, as you pointed out, and can be read incorrectly. But digital is way overkill and frankly has the same problems. I recommend a clicker type. Harbor Freight cheapos ($20) are all you need.

I always thought beam types were *less* fragile, as they have no real moving parts, and in the rare case that the readout beam gets bent, you just bend it back so it reads "0" at rest and you're good to go.
Not to mention, they're cheaper and they work for both clockwise and counterclockwise torque.

So do most clickers (not all). And agreed on the "cheaper", but at $20 how much cheaper do you need?

Just imagining bending a clicker... You probably meant the torque directions, though.

"in the rare case that the readout beam gets bent, you just bend it back so it reads "0" at rest" QUOTE.

+1


Regards,
J T

yeah, inch POUNDS...that was a weird thing I said "foot inches"? Not sure where my pee brain was when I wrote that.

Actually the clicker type while pretty good is not as good as the dial type I mentioned, but if all it's going to be used for is on a bicycle then the cheap clicker from Harbor Freight will be adequate though not as accurate as more expensive ones, other problem is that the Harbor Freight probably won't go as low on the torque settings as he needs on his bike, he would have to go there and see how low they can go. He will need a unit that can go down to 25 inch pounds for his min requirement of 3nm (if I remember my calculations right). Thus at 25 inch pounds you would have to convert that to 2.08 for the low side on a foot pound torque wrench (again if I remember my calculations correctly).

I use a 1/4" drive clicker type torque wrench that I got on sale at Nashbar. It's max is 25 nm, but it works great for all the small carbon bits on the fancy bikes that I build. I have a 3/8 drive sears for the BB. That 1/4" gets used all day, good tool, and good price...$49. My suppliers have offered me the same tool for $89 wholesale! It comes with a full set of allen bits, too!

One of the problems with both dial and beam types is that you have to be square on to the face/scale to read them accurately. That usually means that you can't put your weight into the wrench but have to work at arm's length.

To go that low he needs a 1/4" drive wrench - no wrench is accurate at the bottom (or top) of its range. HF sells 1/4" too, of course. Rather nice ones, actually: dual direction, dual scale, and decent case.

I think it would be more helpful to buy a 1/4 inch drive beam wrench. It should give more accurate measurements in the lower torque range needed for critical parts like stems and brake levers. A 3/8 inch drive could cover the rest.
I use a 1/4 and a 1/2 inch beam wrenches. I bought the 1/4 inch for the bikes and the 1/2 inch for cars and trucks. The larger one is good for bottom brackets.

Al

My 3/8" goes from 0 - 600ip in readings of 50ip. My 1/4" goes from 0 - 60ip in readings of 2ip. Both are beam-models. I'll get around to digitals when I find some I trust and don't cost an arm & leg.

They also read in Nm.

I've also heard that clicker-type torque wrenches tend to go out of calibration or be out of spec in the first place. My suspicion is that a cheap, Harbor Freight unit would be more problematic in this regard than a more expensive unit.

I agree that parallax is an issue with beam-type wrenches, but these wrenches' simplicity and low price more than make up for this for me (as a hobbyist).

Just by the way....

I've looked online, recently, to find torque wrench calibration companies. Easy enough -- plenty exist.

One place charges from about $20 to about $100+ for calibration.

Or/but ... you can also DIY for free -- the route that I'll be taking.

While a perfectly accurate torque wrench would be a nice thing -- like many such instruments -- it's enough to know the degree and direction of error. Doing the math, on the fly, is a fairly simple thing. If you can take reasonable care of a $20 Harbor Freight clicker, then -- provided you know ITS degree of error -- it may be a fairly reasonable tool that lasts a good long time....

I usually don't advocate cheap tools. However, there are a few places where they are OK IMHO. Harbor Freight torque wrenches are more than accurate enough for bike and automotive use. They make a 1/4" drive for the low torque range. The rest of my tools are Craftsman and Park.

I found a web site a while back where an engineer tested them. They were as accurate as more expensive brands like Craftsman and Mac.

Look at their digital caliper, it is the exact same one that you get from Sears.