At a glance Beautifully engineered, easy-to-use torque wrench kit for bikes that offers a double-sided ratchet drive, a range from 3 to 15 Newton-metres, 9 hex key bits and a lifetime guarantee
Tested by
Jon Adams, tester for The Bike List
Performance
With carbon frames and components becoming more affordable, it's becoming critical to ensure you don't overtighten your bike's bolts. Crushing a carbon tube with the overzealous use of an hex key or ratchet can prove a hideously expensive mistake, and with some bike bits only requiring 3 or 4 Nm of force, it's not so easy to get it right on 'feel' alone. And it's not just carbon components that can become victims of over tightening - strip the threads of a bolt and it's an inconvenience, 
but if you strip out the thread of the frame or component you're tightening into, you've got a major job on your hands. Many bike components now have the torque required stamped onto the product, and all you have to do is dial this into a torque wrench and tighten until the wrench breaks off.
Sport Torq is a cycle-specific arm of MHH Engineering who have been manufacturing precision engineering tools in the UK for 72 years. At £110 for the kit (or £95 for the wrench on its own) it's far from cheap, but you get everything you need in a robust plastic case, and using the wrench is so simple you just can't go wrong. In the kit, you even get a branded aluminium bottle opener in a matching anodised colour, so you can crack open a cold one once you've torqued your bike! In the kit, you get the torque wrench with a 1/4in square drive that attaches to a bit holder with a sprung, 6mm hex aperture. Into this you can slot the supplied hex bits (2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8mm) plus a torx T25 for MTB disc brakes. The wrench itself is available in Blue, Red, Magenta or Black for those who like to co-ordinate their colours, and measures a whisker over 20cm with a weight of 232g. The bits are nicely finished and are neatly presented in the foam lined case.
In use, the wrench feels like a high quality item. All you have to do is dial in the required torque setting by twisting the handle and reading off the scale etched into the barrel. You've got metric Newton-metres (N.m) on one side and imperial pound-inches (lbf.in) on the other, and the range runs from 3 to 15 N.m (30 to 130 lbf.in) so it covers pretty much everything you'd need on a bike. Once you get to your desired torque, the head of the ratchet 
breaks over by 20 degrees and lets you know you've given it enough. The ratchet only works one way, but if you want to undo rather than fasten a bolt, the drive is double sided, so you simply swap the bit holder to the 1/4in square drive on the other side of the ratchet head and away you go.
The Sport Torq kit offers a beautifully engineered torque wrench with a lifetime guarantee at a reasonable price. Good wrenches with lower torques are expensive, and the Sport Torq sits at the mid-to-upper end of the price range. If you go for the whole kit, a worry might be that you'll lose a bit or the bit holder, but this isn't too much of a concern as replacements can be bought for just £3 each from the main site. The breaking action is really solid, and the 209mm length and sculpted handle gives you plenty of leverage to tighten up to the wrench's 15N.m maximum torque. This is a really nice piece of kit that will prevent any home mechanic from over-tightening the more fragile components on their bike. It's a great extension to a toolkit, and would also make a perfect gift for the practical rider who likes to get their hands dirty.
Find out more and buy from: www.sport-torq.com
Sport Torq says:
The Sport Torq is a compact torque wrench specifically designed for use on your bike.
The Sport Torq cycle wrench uses an innovative breaking action. When the set torque is reached, the head rotates 20°, giving you more time to react and stop.
The dual scale allows the wrench to be set between 3-15 N.m or 30-130 lbf.in. , covering most of your tightening tasks.
Available in 4 anodised finishes to suit your style.
The Sport Torq is available in a Kit complete with bits to suit most of your bike applications or on its own in a protective Neoprene carry case.
The lifetime guarantee gives complete peace of mind, once you have registered your product online.
- Construction: Aluminium Alloy 6082
- Ratchet: 1/4in square drive
- Range: 3 - 15 N.m or 30-130lbf.in
- Accuracy: +/- 10% of set torque
- Colour: Choice of Blue, Red, Magenta or Black
- Finish: Anodised
- Length: 209mm
- Weight: 232g
- Action: 20° Break
- Handle: Ergonomic adjusting grip
- Designed and Manufactured in the UK
- Manufacturer: MHH Engineering Co. Ltd - the company
- behind Torqueleader Industrial torque wrenches
- Guarantee: Lifetime
