Show Us a Tool

[Art Deco]

A good "rule of thumb" that I've found is to use the Allen key that comes supplied with everything that I've purchased for my e-bike, and use the key this way,..

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Chances are REALLY good that you won't be able to over torque anything without your thumb and fingers saying OWE !! and your left with red detents in your thumb and fingers that last for hours.

It's not about Herculean strength.
It's all about how much it hurts to overtighten anything.
It's a very tactile approach.

Yeah, people tell me things like that. I try not to crush their tools really, some of them probably lie, anyway. OH SNAP.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Sadly though, the stem shows 55nm.

What?!

A photo, please. Stem is 5 Nm...

 

[Art Deco]

I got this set of spinning t handle wrenches. I wanted the park tool ones but they are almost 150.00 and I dont need them a lot. but there are a few jobs I really need them like tightening and loosening the bottom bracket bolts so I can rotate. the bottom bracket on the tandem to tight up the chain. dont need the 8 and the 10 really. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074PXK2BN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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My neighbor has the same kind of thing to use on his tandem.

 

[PCeBiker]

What?!

A photo, please. Stem is 5 Nm...

My old stem is 10 N.m

My new stem has a 60 mm rise.
It kinda looks like 60 nm

 

[Stefan Mikes]

55 Nm is a very high torque usually applied to the crankset to fasten it to the mid-drive motor axle or to fasten the cassette (40 Nm) to the rear hub.

I happen to have owned an e-bike similar to Dave's and know the A-HEAD stems only require 5 Nm. I hope Dave hasn't pulled his stem bolt thread yet...

 

[6zfshdb]

Nice to see this thread again. I think i follow everybody on it , but y'all know I stay out threads where I can't add anything useful. I hope. But I understand the difference between y'all with precision tools and state of the art electric equipment do indeed contrast well with some of my favorites ; plus the big hammer in the basement. I stay active...
But I realize this bike will willingly take me places where the local talent won't have your skills. I need a tool kit for the bike that is a good use of limited skills and long ranges between local bike shops, but only a few miles to a ride an uber car, van, truck ...
I won't touch on the this stuff but probably assume no cell towers or credit cards. Most often electricity. Tool of the Devil.
How am I doing?

Good start Art!

I'm a graduate of the "Bigger Hammer School of Mechanics" myself!

 

[Art Deco]

So I tried the new torque wrench last evening.
After reading the instructions 3 times to understand how to calibrate the tension/nm settings I tried it on my Ergo grips first, just to get a feel for it.
The grips show a requirement of 5nm. OK, no worries... set the wrench, found the correct H bit and started turning... slowly...
The wrench is supposed to give you a "click" feel and/or sound when you reach the desired nm level. I was being very careful to notice the feedback as I tightened. I was extremely surprised at how many turns it took to get to that click feel/sound. It occurs to me that my grips might have been at 1 or 2nm which I felt comfortable with using the hand tool I used to install them. They had never moved before.
OK fine... Next I went to the 4 bolts that deal with the handlebars I upgraded. Same thing... but it took fewer turns to get there.
Now that I was familiar with the operation I went for the motor/engine mount bolts. I had found the service manual and seen that they should be at 30nm. The wrench is rated at max 26nm, so I "over" torqued it, got the Torx 30 bit and man... that was satisfying. A few turns later I was super snug on all 3 bolts.
For sure the shop did not torque the motor bolts after the dropper install.
Happy camper... will go over the rest of the bike on the weekend.
Sadly though, the stem shows 55nm. Dayum... I had moved the spacers, so I am very sure it's not what it should be. I'll see what 26nm does to those. Never had a problem with the stem though...

Mine is one of those 'threadless ' ones. PedalUma put in a throwaway for shipping, I removed it and mounted the already installed hardware. The LBS actually 'installed' it ... same with the

Good start Art!

I'm a graduate of the "Bigger Hammer School of Mechanics" myself!,

Thanks. My English friend calls it a Manchester screwdriver, but then he's never seen the eBike carrying a chain saw that I saw on EBR.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I use a scalpel handle and added ebony to it for a better grip.

 

[DaveMatthews]

What?!

A photo, please. Stem is 5 Nm...

Check this out...



My naked eye saw/sees 55nm, and I had to enlarge the pic to see a tiny . inbetween the 2 5s.
5.5nm it is...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Work got in the way...
Anyway, check out this pic...



My naked eye saw 55nm
I had to zoom in on my phone to see a faint . between the two 5s
Yeesh... 5.5 it is...

How misleading!

 

[DaveMatthews]

How misleading!

Had me fooled temporarily. I'm just glad I hadn't tried over tightening without double checking for sure...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Had me fooled temporarily. I'm just glad I hadn't tried over tightening without double checking for sure...

@DaveMatthews: There is a good technique to safely tighten any bolt or screw as long as it is not a special part (requiring very little or very much of torque).

The length of each bicycle hex wrench in the set has been designed not without a reason. When you use a key of a given size, and keep the wrench between your index finger and the thumb halfway the wrench length, the torque delivered is in the order of the value expected by aluminium bolts of that size (Note: I have removed the heavy 10mm wrench from the set as it is never used).

Yes, I own a good torque wrench but cannot take it on my rides because of the size/weight, so I apply the technique described pretty often in the field. (I've worked with bike stems a lot so I memorized the typical torque values)

 

[Gionnirocket]

I've never used a torque wrench to tighten a stem and have never had an issue.
Alternate tightening each bolt a quarter turn keeping the gap even between the stems halves.
Once snug, secure the front wheel by placing it tightly between your legs and try to steer left and right with the bar ends. You should be able to apply enough force to flex the front fork without the stem slipping. I usually recheck it after a ride.
It's also not a bad idea to do this test occasionally as well.
Now that I've said this... Today's ride should be interesting as I've just jinxed myself

 

[DaveMatthews]

@DaveMatthews: There is a good technique to safely tighten any bolt or screw as long as it is not a special part (requiring very little or very much of torque).

View attachment 160559
The length of each bicycle hex wrench in the set has been designed not without a reason. When you use a key of a given size, and keep the wrench between your index finger and the thumb halfway the wrench length, the torque delivered is in the order of the value expected by aluminium bolts of that size (Note: I have removed the heavy 10mm wrench from the set as it is never used).

Yes, I own a good torque wrench but cannot take it on my rides because of the size/weight, so I apply the technique described pretty often in the field. (I've worked with bike stems a lot so I memorized the typical torque values)

Yeah, I'm not going to transport my torque wrench... no need. I pack a multi-tool instead for field adjustments.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yeah, I'm not going to transport my torque wrench... no need. I pack a multi-tool instead for field adjustments.

Yes. It is always the matter of the feeling in your fingers not to pull the thread

I like taking my wrench set for my rides. It helped me and several other riders. Like "I cannot loosen my thru-axle, any ideas?" and then enters Mikulski, all in white* and hands out the regular hex wrench set
––––
*) An old joke

 

[PCeBiker]

Yeah, I'm not going to transport my torque wrench... no need. I pack a multi-tool instead for field adjustments.

I have the same Crankbrothers multi-tool and I really like it.
Can you tell me what the other tool is.
I wanna get one if it's as good as the Crankbrothers.

 

[DaveMatthews]

I have the same Crankbrothers multi-tool and I really like it.
Can you tell me what the other tool is.
I wanna get one if it's as good as the Crankbrothers.

I found this on Amazon I think. So far I've not needed it except to assist in re-mounting a dropped chain. Made by Outbound, but danged if I can find it again after a quick search.
I bought it for the the pliers mostly. It feels good in hand and seems like good quality.

 

[PCeBiker]

I found this on Amazon I think. So far I've not needed it except to assist in re-mounting a dropped chain. Made by Outbound, but danged if I can find it again after a quick search.
I bought it for the the pliers mostly. It feels good in hand and seems like good quality.

Thanks.
I've had a bunch of similar multi-tools over the years and they were all kinda crappy with a clunky feel to them.
Maybe I'll see if Crankbrothers makes one?

I know Leatherman is good quality but I'm not spending that kinda money,..

Gerber is good too, but still too rich for me,..

 

[PCeBiker]

Looks like Leatherman has gone downhill, just like Irwin tools and Visegrip.
Same deal with Gerber.

Maybe I can find something that was made in Taiwan like Crankbrothers?

Or something made in Germany like my Knipex diagonal cutters?

Everything is disposal junk nowadays.

 

[DiggyGun]

I’ve had both Gerber and Leatherman. Both are towards the top end, price wise, but much better than the cheaper copies.

However, Gerber is not as robust and overall appeared not as good as the Leatherman.

Leatherman have a good customer service department. I broke the tip off one of the blades, (doing something it was not meant for). They replaced the complete tool FOC.

DG…