Spent $80 on a torque wrench and it already paid for itself

Bought a CDI torque wrench off Amazon a few months ago cause I was tired of guessing on carbon stems and seatposts. Had a customer bring in a bike last week where the previous shop had torque stripped the handlebar clamp bolts on a $400 carbon bar. That wrench cost me $80 and I used it to dial in every bolt on his replacement bars. The look on his face when I showed him the old bolts was something else. Now I tell anyone who works on expensive parts to stop guessing and just buy one. Anybody else see stripped carbon parts from people not using torque tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

keith9001mo ago

Honestly feel for your buddy, ruining a good set of bars like that is heartbreaking. Ngl, I think half the stripped bolts I see are from shops just guessing too.

parkerbrown1mo ago

Totally agree dude, it's wild how many nice parts get ruined because someone just sends it with an Allen key. I had a buddy destroy a set of Zipp handlebars that way, the clamp area looked like hamburger meat. Picked up a Tekton wrench myself after that and it's already saved my butt on a new road bike with an obscenely light carbon post. Seriously anyone dropping good money on components owes it to themselves to get one, it's like a no brainer.