Tried a torque wrench on my seatpost clamp for once

Had a carbon frame come in last week and the owner said the seatpost kept slipping. I always just tightened those by feel, figured it was fine. Broke out the Park Tool TW-5 and set it to 5 Nm like the frame sticker said. Post hasn't budged since. Anyone else skip the torque wrench on simple stuff and regret it later?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren_smith4415d ago

Honestly I've been there too. Torqued my own seatpost by feel for years and never had an issue until I borrowed a friend's carbon frame. Snapped the bolt clean off at 6 Nm because I thought "hand tight" meant something different. Now I use a torque wrench on anything carbon or delicate. The difference between 4 and 5 Nm is way more than you'd think once you actually measure it. Cost me a new post and a lot of embarrassment.

jessicamiller15d ago

Jumped into the same trap myself a few years back @wren_smith44. Over tightened a carbon handlebar clamp and got a nice crack in the stem faceplate. Now I keep a cheap beam style torque wrench in my saddle bag for trailside adjustments. The click type ones are fine but you gotta store them at zero or they lose calibration fast. Another tip if you don't have a wrench handy is to use a short hex key instead of a long one, gives you way less leverage so you can't overdo it.