Colnago's easy-to-use micrometric torque wrench helps you tighten your bike's various bolts and screws exactly the right amount. This is a vital for ultra-light gear such as carbon fiber and magnesium stems and carbon handlebars where there's very little margin for error in how much you tighten their bolts.
This is a click-type wrench so using it couldn't be simpler. Just dial the desired setting (from 2-16Nm) in the handle, fit the necessary bit in the magnetic head and tighten till a click tells you that you have reached the setting.
I found that I'd been tightening some components way too much, and I know I'm not alone. Quite a few mechanics I've spoken to admit surprise when they first used a torque wrench: they were usually tightening things up too hard.
There's a generous array of bits in the tough plastic case: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm Allen keys; 3 and 4.5mm flat screwdrivers; Phillips #0, #1 and #2 screwdrivers and T20, T25 and T30 Torx heads. The last one of those will be especially welcomed by owners of recent high-end cranks that use Torx fittings for chainring bolts.
As well as these delicate applications, using a torque wrench is also worthwhile for everything else. Correct and consistent torque settings help prolong the life and improve the security of your components. You might think you already know how to tighten things, but can you get a completely even tension on all four bolts of a handlebar clamp by feel alone?
As an engineer friend of mine, Tim, puts it, "torque wrenches are definitely good things. Essential tools for the ham-fisted, useful tools for the more experienced. I should use mine more often than I do.
"They're especially useful for unusual fasteners, where one doesn't have a good feel for how tight is "right" (cassette lock rings come to mind). And for unusual metals, where stripping a thread is a real possibility (e.g. pinch bolts in aluminium stems). With threads in/on soft metals, it's a balance between too loose (so likely to slip or loosen in use), and stripped. Bikes are made of soft metals, and have threads."
So there you go - get yourself a torque wrench.
While it's labelled 'Colnago' this is actually an Effetto Mariposa Giustaforza torque wrench, so if your local Colnago importer doesn't handle them, you should be able to find a source that does. Listed left are various importers of Colnago and Effetto Mariposa.
It's AU$299 in Australia from FRF Sports and more like UKP120 in the UK - apologies for the price glitch in our listing over to the left.