That $80 torque wrench I cheaped out on just cost me a carbon frame

Bought a no-name torque wrench off Amazon for $80 to save cash, figured how off could it be. Used it on my seatpost clamp at 5nm, felt fine until I heard a crack on a ride last Tuesday. Turns out it was clicking at like 7nm, overtorqued the clamp and now the frame has a hairline split. Anyone else had a budget torque tool give them false confidence, or is this just my LBS trying to sell me a better one?

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1 Comment

lindab4918d ago

Honestly, that "how off could it be" part is what gets me. Did you test the wrench against a known good one or a beam style gauge before you trusted it with your frame? Because the cheap ones are fine for lug nuts, but carbon is a whole different game, one click too many and it's done. Tbh, I'm not even sure it's the LBS trying to sell you anything, a cracked frame is a cracked frame. The real question is, did you check the calibration out of the box, or just assume the clicks meant something? Because if you didn't, that's the real mistake here, not the $80.