Warning: I used to torque every bolt on a carbon frame to spec with my old click wrench, but after a customer brought in a cracked seatpost clamp from over-tightening last month, I now hand-tighten and feel for the 'bite' first.

Anyone else find that the feel of carbon fiber under a wrench is way more important than the number on the gauge?

3 comments

3 Comments

Yeah, that's a scary story. I've had a few close calls myself where the torque wrench clicked but something just felt off, like the carbon was starting to give before the number. Now I always go slow by hand first, especially on stem bolts. You can feel that little bit of extra resistance right before it's too much. Makes you trust your hands more than the tool sometimes.

grant_gibson5d ago

Trust your hands more than the tool" is the real pro tip. My torque wrench is basically a fancy paperweight that sometimes clicks for fun. I've had it give the all-clear on a seatpost bolt while my brain was screaming "that's the sound of money cracking." Now I just use it to make myself feel better before I do it by feel anyway.

bettym8928d agoMost Upvoted

That click sound can lie, man.