Bought a cheap $80 cable tension gauge online and it was off by 15% on every test.

3 comments

3 Comments

Honestly my buddy had the same exact problem last year. He bought one of those no-name gauges to set up his bike. Tbh it read way low compared to the shop's tool. He ended up over tightening a bunch of spokes before he figured it out. Ngl it was a pretty annoying waste of time and money. Makes you wonder if just saving for a known brand is worth it.

parker_palmer4412h ago

Yeah that's a good point from spencer_owens58, but I see it a little different. The thing about those cheap gauges isn't always that they read low. Sometimes they're just not consistent, so you get a different number every time you check the same spoke. A known brand is usually about getting a tool that gives you the same reading over and over, even if it's a little off. You can work with a tool that's consistently wrong because you can learn the offset. The real waste is fighting a tool that lies to you in a new way each time you pick it up.

stellaperry12h ago

Totally feel that frustration! Inconsistent tools are the worst.