lidl bits

[just jim]

If your going to be whacking on a new chainset any time soon, Lidl are selling torque wrenches at 12.99 a throw from Monday the 3rd.

 

[cheadle hulme]

Thursday 6th on the website.

They've done them before - anyone got one? Are they any use for things smaller than a chainset? ie stem bolts and suchlike

 

[just jim]

Thursday 6th on the website.

Indeed!

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Thursday 6th on the website.

They've done them before - anyone got one? Are they any use for things smaller than a chainset? ie stem bolts and suchlike

I got one, never had the chance to use it yet but I doubt it could be used for small things.

 

[Mr Pig]

That's not that cheap and if it's a car one it won't go down far enough for most of the bolts on a bike.

 

[Le_Bouc]

If you have a (nice) bike then it's worth getting torque wrenches. Generally they come in 'light' torque or 'normal'. Light torque is up to about 15Nm this covers many stem bolts, brake bolts that sort of thing that are usually set at about 5-7Nm. For things like Bottom Brackets then the torque is much higher and the low torque wrench will be too light. The one at Lidl will almost certainly be the higher torque ones. Better quality wrenchs come with calibration certs that give around 5% accuracy. The low torque wrenches are usually a bit more expensive for the same level of quality. Think about £35 for the low torque and about £30 for the higher torque ratings. Try outside of the cycling world if looking for these as there is more choice. Top end motorbikes need accurate low torque ratings on some of their fiddly bits and so you might find something there that suits?

 

[youngoldbloke]

The Liddle one is much too high torque for bike use. Recently, after considerable searching/research I finally bought 2 from PVR Direct, both Sealey, and both with calibration certificates. A STW1012, 2-24 Nm, and an AK623, 27.1 -108.5 Nm. Also Sealey S0533 Hex Bit & Holder set, and a couple of adaptors/sockets. All for about £60.

 

[Le_Bouc]

Youngoldbloke that sounds a good deal and I don't think it could be bettered anywhere. What do you think of their quality? I'm off to look at the PVR direct for a look...

 

[youngoldbloke]

I am no expert but I think they are pretty good - as I said I did a lot of research, and was looking for certificated kit - and they were discounted by more than 50% when I bought them. Best prices around at the time. Also relatively difficult to find 'light' torque wrenches anyway. The S0533 Hex bit and holder set is really worth having.

 

[mondobongo]

Was in Lidl yesterday had a look at the torque wrench its a massive heavy piece of kit and looking at the socket bolt highly unlikely to take any small hex sizes.

 

[Dave5N]

Isn't this craze driven by the risk assessment/wannabe aerospace engineers / Insurance-premium brigade ?

We got pretty good bikes. I've never used a torque wrench on a bike; I have never damaged anything by overtightening and nothing has ever dropped off mid-race because I didn't do the fixing up.

 

[kyuss]

Exactly. Learn to use an allen key and know when enough is enough. For what it's worth I once used a torque wrench to fit my carbon wrapped bars, and when done up to the correct torque they still slipped. Riding them that loose would have resulted in an accident. I'm glad the torque wrench was my dads and I hadn't shelled out £60 for something that was essentially useless.

 

[tyred]

I own one of the torque wrench in question from when they offered it before. I doubt it would be much use on a bike but I used it to torque the cylinder head bolts on my VW amongst other things and it is a perfectly good tool if you need one.

 

[ultraviolet]

Exactly. Learn to use an allen key and know when enough is enough.

i second that

just by reading the torque value on something like, say, a SMICA stem should tell you how far you should go, then again on a BMX stem its going to be differant and everyone knows you can't use one for the other