# Anyone use Tekton or Capri Torque Wrenches?



## lardo5150 (Oct 20, 2014)

Title says it all. Are they any good or garbage?

Park Tools are EXPENSIVE.


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## splatt1016 (Aug 18, 2015)

The Capri comes with a certificate of calibration. I’ve had mine for a couple years and it has worked flawlessly. The only negative is that the engraved scale is difficult for my 50 year old eyes to read. But maybe they’re all that way.


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## Organ (Jan 30, 2004)

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lardo5150 said:


> Title says it all. Are they any good or garbage?
> 
> Park Tools are EXPENSIVE.


Yes. In fact my main bike torque wrench is a tekton 24320. I also own a basic Park tw-1 and the ATD driver as well. I tested the tekton against a couple other much more expensive wrenches and they all measure within a few percent. More than accurate enough for bike work IMO.


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## Forest Rider (Oct 29, 2018)

One thing to consider when looking for a torque wrench is the zone of which it is most accurate, or at least where manufacturer suggests it's accurate.

It's important (in my opinion) to purchase a torque wrench that places your intended uses within the manufacturers accuracy range.

I do not really own much in the way of precision tools. However, I'm sure the difference in accuracy (outside of the 4% allowed by the manufacturer) will not be harmful to the bike. Figure 4% of 5nm is only going to be 0.2. So if I use 5nm to clamp my bars, is 4.8 or 5.2 acceptable. Seems to be. 

I too am interested in a torque wrench and I'm not too interested in the Park Tools that offer up the preset values required for bike maintenance. I'm sure it is fine, what else do I torque that uses values in the range of bike components. It's the principal. haha

For what it's worth, the Teckton I found on the net has easier to read numbers than the Capri I compared. 
I'm right there with needing glasses to see things that precisely.


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## Lone Rager (Dec 13, 2013)

FWIW: It's easy to check the calibration of a torque wrench. The way I do it put a socket vertically in a bench vise, put the torque wrench in it, and pull perpendicularly on the handle of the wrench with a string and fishing scale. Torque applied is the distance from the center of the socket to where the force is applied on the handle times the force indicated on the scale. A spring type scale is way easier to use than a digital one cause the digits aren't jumping around. And of course you can verify the fishing scale with known weights.


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## wayold (Nov 25, 2017)

I've happy enough with the HF 1/4 drive torque wrench (often on sale for $10). When I checked it was accurate to within +-10%. Good enough for me.


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

I view tools, high-quality tools as a long-term investment and torque wrenches are where I prefer to not compromise. While (personally) I feel there are many areas in tool acquisition where expense compromise can be valid, I choose to not to on these.


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## silentG (May 18, 2009)

I have a 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 Tekton torque wrenches and they have been absolutely fine over the past couple of years I have had them.

So fine in fact that I haven't had an itch to scratch to find something better.

Bikes aren't moon launches.

Are they as fabooolus as a Snap-On or wonder brand X?

No.

Do they need to be?

No.


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## silentG (May 18, 2009)

What I wouldn't recommend are beam type torque wrenches though...nothing bueno down that road in my experience


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## Zomby Woof (MCM700) (May 23, 2004)

Yeah, I have the 1/4" drive Tekton torque wrench too. I use it for my low torque applications.


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## Shartist (Aug 15, 2018)

I like CDI as they are what snap-on rebrands and they aren’t bad price-wise—they are commonly found in the oil/aerospace industry R&D labs.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

Shartist said:


> I like CDI as they are what snap-on rebrands and they aren't bad price-wise-they are commonly found in the oil/aerospace industry R&D labs.


CDI isnt exactly a snapon rebrand... but its _from_ snapon. Its one of their industrial brands.

I use CDI professionally to rebuild very expensive engines. The ratchet is a bit sloppy, but its consistent and holds its calibration over the years. I check mine about every year, and I havent had to calibrate it in the 7ish years Ive had it.

They're affordable for a every single day make a living with it kinda tool. Precision instrument is great too, but that level of stuff is overboard for a bike, I think.

On a bike, you're probably just torquing the 4, 5, 6nm stuff. I think the fixed torqkeys are awesome.

Over the years, ive seen so so so many threads where people tried to do the right thing, but totally destroyed a bike part (usually a stem) from using the wrong range torque wrench. Torqkeys do a great job avoiding that.


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## Shartist (Aug 15, 2018)

I agree that using a torque wrench with the proper scaling and not confusing things like in/lb and ft/lb is important ::lol:: ; but I would argue that the cdi wrench is more versatile as it is more likely to be useful in other hobbies/fix-its/applications--more bang for your overall buck.

Disclaimer: Those not named One Pivot may not care about the following (and he may not either  )

Sorry, strictly speaking CDI are the industrial line from snap-on, but I can tell you that after having something like 8-10 of each calibration checked and tracked weekly for the better part of a 26 month period to ensure the instrumentation and process i designed and we were developing remained within a particular spec, and I can tell you that the numbers were statistically indistinguishable with very little, but identical drift well below what was significant for our application and well within the advertised spec. To me that suggests functional rebranding with cosmetic tweaks: a less fancy handle and maybe a few less teeth on the ratchet; however, I would bet the torque components are identical. In my home shop I'm partial to SO for wrenches, ratchets, and sockets, but just dont see a point in shelling out the dough for torque wrenches when cdi performs identically. Screwdrivers I buy the definitely-rebranded-last-years-model "williams" logo'ed SO stuff.


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## One Pivot (Nov 20, 2009)

Thats awesome you tested it that far! It very may well be the entire as-is snapon internals, its been a fantastic top quality tool.

The head is probably 24pt though. The nice snapon 88t head would have been nice, but for a torque tool its not really worth the cost. The whole rest of the wrench does look the same as SO.


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