On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 14:08:35 -0400, Sheldon Brown
may have said:Someone who turns into a piece of furniture when the moon
is full said:Judgement comes with experience. What is to provide
judgement for the inexperienced?
That's a very old conundrum...there's no substitute for
experience.
No, really, there isn't, but I would rather have the
inexperienced turned into the knowledgeable in fewer
breakage steps. IMO, it is hardly reasonable to recommend
that an amateur trust his own judgement in tightening things
*that matter* when the use of a torque wrench would increase
the chances of the result being close to right. In my own
case, long ago, after several dozen VW engine overhauls, I
knew by feel when the torque wrench was going to click on
the head studs and such, but I didn't start out
knowing...and I'd have been [censored] as hell if I'd had to
do every job over several times, buying some new bits on
each iteration, just to find out what the right feel was.
When I took up cycling, I had years of mechanic experience
on other equipment...but I still had to find the places
where things were critical on bikes, and it turned out that
one of them really did need a torque wrench before I was
going to get the feel. Tightening the bolts (or nuts, on
cheap BBs) on the cranks didn't have the nice, familiar
plateau whwere it became obvious that the fastener was as
snug as it needed to be; the taper meant that the effort
just had a moderately linear increase, with nothing to
clearly point up the "it's done, Jim" spot. I'll give you
the contention that the left cranks can often stand a bit
more than the right, though for the life of me I can't
really understand why this is the case. Still, in that *one*
instance, had I gone at it with a wink and a guess, I'd
likely have driven the damn things all the way up the taper
until the bolt bottomed. (Yes, at times, I *am* Captain
Overtorque[1].)
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:It is my practice to tighten the left side harder than
the right side. Here's why:
When cranks come loose, it is very predominantly the left
side that comes loose. Making the left side bolt extra
tight precludes this.
So, what you're really saying is that the spec for the
left is wrong;
Not necessarily, I'm saying that a one-size-fits-all spec
is not as reliable as the judgement of a good mechanic.
And therein lies the rub. Many of the people who come here,
and to your site, for advice and assistance are decidedly
*not* experienced. Those whose time in service pulling on
wrenches has gifted them with the feel for when it's "tight
enough" serve the amateur poorly by not advocating the use
of the tools that will give that amateur the best chance of
getting a good result. What you and I can safely do is not
necessarily good practice for them.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:the wrench does not know what you're using it on, why
blame the tool?
Who's blaming the tool? Might as well blame spell checkers
for some of the amusing malapropisms that come out of
various word processors.
sheldonbrown.comhumor.htmlOpen ↗
In some cases, the spell-checker may make things amusingly
worse...but such is the nature of this language.
BTW; here's a brainstorm for your humor entries. Reversible
tubeless tires; run them slick side out on the street,
invert them to put the knobs to the trail when going off-
road. The only problem I see is that somebody might actually
think it wasn't a fake product.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Issues of possible overtightening are of more concern on
the right side, because this can cause chainline
problems, or, in extreme cases, chainring clearance
problems.
So, do you advocate using a torque wrench there, then?
I don't advocate using a torque wrench on bicycles. It's
primarily an automotive tool.
It's a tool, period. It has many appropriate venues, from
aviation and instrumentation to sewing machines and more.
Using it is one way of learning what "tight enough" feels
like *when the parts and fasteners are in good condition and
properly prepped*...and if that requirement is skipped, the
user has got some additional education to acquire anyway.
Quoted message said:My point is that torque wrenches are _not_ and _essential_
tool for bicycle work, and anybody who claims they are is
blowing smoke.
They may be of some use as "training wheels" for beginner
mechanics, though I suspect that, as with training wheels
for bikes, they delay mastery.
There's no substitute for breaking/stripping a few bits of
hardware to educate you hands and brain about how a
properly tightened fastener feels.
If you feel that you are incapable of judging tightness
without the aid of a torque wrench, go ahead and use one,
but don't assert that everybody needs to do so.
I would say that it's safer, and more considerate, to
recommend the use of a torque wrench for critical tasks when
the experience that would make it irrelevant is not
demonstrably present. The idea is to give the questioner the
information that will lead them to the best result they are
likely to achieve. Not everyone wants, needs, or can even
acquire the feel for "tight enough" in the limited number of
times that they will perform a given task...and it's rude,
to my way of thinking, to think that they'll be better off
breaking something in the long run. The idea is to help, not
to set them up for a fall. You provide people with good,
sound, practical advice so consistently and so often that
you're really the last person I thought I'd see taking the
position that has been advanced; I started to wonder who had
abducted the Umber Wizard at first. I now appears that what
you're saying is they *you* don't feel the need to use a
torque wrench. Well, for a lot of tasks, when it's *me*
doing them, I agree; I don't need one either. That doesn't
mean that I would recommend that someone else, whose
abilities are unknown to me, should think that they can do
likewise. It's not, in many cases, a good bet.
--
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Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.