Reading here I see talk of Torque Wrenches relating to Carbon Frames. I do a lot of my own work around the house not much ever needed on my Trek 820 but tomorrow I will have my hands on a new Madone 6.2 providing UPS is on time. I won't have to put the bike together except for pedals, seat and handle bars. So I am assuming I won't need a Torque wrench to finish the put together but what parts will I be required to use the torque wrench on and what style/brand of torque wrench does others here have or use?

I got the PBK 3-15nm wrench for most jobs and the big one from Home Depot for things like cranks. I'm always prepared to go by feel but I'll use a torque wrench whenever I can. Technically, every bolt on your bike has a torque rating. Question is how close can you get without a torque wrench? If it's close enough you're good. GL

I would not try to tighten anything carbon without a torque wrench, especially where a catastrophic break would mean dental work (handlebars, stem, maybe the seatpost). That's just me though, others may have a less gorilla-like touch. Performance or Nashbar have a nice one for less $$$, especially on sale.

I like my Park Tool TW-5 with Pedros' bits.

All the answers to your question were posted not long ago here as far as needing it not if you have a fill for bolts tightning! but very nice to have, the parts that you will need to be carefull about are bar clamp and seat post clamp.
Enjoy your new bike!

I use the Pedro's Demi Torque Wrench

https://www.pedros.com/demitorque.html

Sears sells a nice clicker torque wrench in inch pounds for about 1/2 the price of the Park Tools one.

Are the bars and/or seat post carbon? If so, you want a torque wrench.

Thanks that helps a lot. Don't know why when I did a search it didn't show up but none the less I have the thread now. Very helpful.

Yes they both are carbon. Funny the dealer didn't mention anything about that. Will hand tighten for now until I get a torque wrench. Can't ride it in this snow anyway. Hand tighten for pictures only unless I can figure out how to ride around the pool table in the house.

If you get the torque wrong on even one bolt enough to matter, it pays for the price of the torque wrench and then some.

Can you rent or borrow one? I'd lend you mine for the hour you'll need it if you were in Seattle.

I put a pair of carbon fiber handlebars on my CX bike, without a torque wrench. I'd heard a lot about people crushing their bars by over-tightening them, so I made sure not to do that. You can probably tell where this is going ... the first bump I hit in the road, which was going down a hill, the bars rotated downward on me. I was riding on the hoods, and they dropped a good two inches. I opened the stem, and it turns out I'd cut a big gouge into the bars; you could see the cut fibers with the naked eye. I got the handlebars on clearance for $80, and later paid $20 for a toque wrench ... if I'd had it sooner, the bars would still be on my CX bike.

You can put them on loosely and take a few pics, as long as you don't put your weight on them.

On a Madone 6.2, I suggest using a torque wrench for

1. the steertube internal reinforcement plug

2. the stem at both ends (and tighten the bolts in rotation fairly gradually)

3. the seatmast cap clamping bolt (the external seatpost), which you might want to dose with carbon assembly compound, and the saddle-rail clamp bolt

4. your crankarm clamping bolts

5. your brake levers to your bar

6. your front derailleur to your frame, and go gentle... if the bolt's been greased, 25-30 inch-pounds can generate quite a lot of clamping force.


Also, be sure to put at least one headset spacer above the stem. This ensures that the stem's got 100% clamp engagement and isn't clamping onto the exposed end of the steer tube, possibly leading to stress risers and worse. Do this, use your torque wrench, and your backside's covered if there's ever a problem.

I tend to overtighten everything. Carbon requires a torque wrench. Take my word.

I must say, for the first time I decided to use my torque wrench on my seat post, stem and seat rails to check if I had over tightened the with a regular hex wrench based off all of the paranoia on the forum.

Now, I used my big boy torque wrench, which might not be the most accurate for 8-10nm when it goes up to 120lbs...anyway....

Turns out, I had undertightened every one I tested by just a bit.

I have gone by feel for a long time, and turns out, I was pretty close, and actually on the loose size by a 1-2lbs.

I like the Pedro's wrench...going to stop by Sears and see if they have something similar for under $120 though and compact for our applications and space.

if you have a torque wrench, does that mean all the wrenches in your tol kit becomes obsolete?

https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...0_20000_400155

I use this one. Works great.

No, most of the torque wrenches mentioned are calibrated and when not used should be zero'd. To keep the wrench in calibration, I would only use it when needed/specified.

Bike nashbar has one just like it for 49.99 right now and if you buy 5 items total you get 20% off making it $40. I just ordered mine along with some clifshots and stuff. Today only tho!!

I bought this after my first carbon steerer tube cracked (maybe it was my fault, but the tube was really thin). Only used the torque wrench twice since then. When tightening the new carbon steerer, the "correct" torque wasn't enough because it still rotated. So, I put the torque wrench down, and did it by feel. The other time it got used was after a new seatpost install. Spec for the saddle rails was 8 N-m, and I decided to do it strictly by hand first. I tightened to what felt tight enough, then used the torque wrench to verify. There was the slightest bit of tightening with the wrench, but it was pretty much exactly where it was supposed to be.

Here's an idea: Go to a bike shop and offer to pay them to let you tighten a few things. (Or teach you.) They might even have some broken carbon steerer tubes or handlebars laying around that you could intentionally overtighten (and even break). Use their torque wrench and then use your hands only to duplicate it. You can learn by feel what is right.

Also, if you are unfamiliar with tightening by feel, what are you going to do if you need to do an adjustment out on the road ... and your torque wrench is miles away?

Torque specs are so that threads on the aluminum bits don't get stripped. Has nothing to do with carbon bits being crushed.

Think about it... why would the torque spec, supposedly for, say, protecting a carbon steering tube, be printed on the stem? The stem doesn't know what steering tube it's going to be attached to when it leaves the factory. It's printed there so you don't strip the screw threads out of the stem. Has nothing to do with the steering tube. Ditto on the other bits that have torque specs written on them.

You can achieve the same thing by learning how to tighten screws without stripping the aluminum threads. You protect the carbon bits by not be so overzealous with the torque. Tighten just enough that things don't move when in use. No more, no less. If a joint is held by multiple bolts, make sure to tighten each bolt evenly. Quarter turn on one bolt; quarter turn on another. Work your way around so the stress on each bolt never varies too much. This is important always, but is extra important with the carbon bits. Much more important than torque specs.

And if your seatpost keeps slipping even after tightening things down, you likely need a shim. For God's sake, don't just continue reefing on the thing. Seems like most carbon bikes do, nowadays; the seat tube is so thin the manufacturers have less dimensional control over it. You can't risk the seat tube ID being less than the seatpost diameter, so they err on the larger side.

My hands aren't that intelligent and can't possibly remember "what feels right" for every specific location requiring torque. In fact my hands have gotten me in trouble before, that said, I just would rather rely on a torque wrench. But that's just me.

if you've spent so much on a nice carbon bike then you'd be a fool (in my opinion) to not buy a torque wrench and risk damaging it by using inferior tools.

here's a review of the wrench i use.

I also got the Park Took wrench when I got my 3T seat post, stem and bars. I just dont want to crank down on carbon parts and guess at the torque.

The sale $49.99 Nashbar kit is the same one as the Performance on sale at $69.99, just with the Nashbar logo instead of Spin doctor. I took took advantage of the 20% (5 items) yesterday too, which was extended into today. So the resulting $40 for that style torque wrench with the hex bits in a case....well if anyone is in the market that seems like the way to go.

However from the reviews, just know that once at torque it doesn't click, the head flexes in the handle. One reviewer said once he figured that out it works perfect. Some of the bad reviews were from not knowing how it worked.