Why does everyone skip the torque wrench on carbon steerers?

Why does everyone skip the torque wrench on carbon steerers? I saw a guy at the shop last Tuesday crank down a carbon stem bolt with a basic Allen key, no torque wrench. He said it felt fine, but I've pulled apart three forks this month where the steerer cracked right at the clamp line. It's not about being fancy, it's about the fact that carbon crushes under uneven pressure, and 5 Nm feels way tighter than people think. I've been doing this for 12 years and I always use a beam style wrench, costs like 25 bucks, and I check it twice on a fresh build. How many of you have actually seen a cracked steerer from over-torquing, and what did the customer say when you showed them the damage?

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alex_coleman22d ago

Different take, but I've been turning wrenches for close to 15 years and I've seen more damage from people being scared of the torque spec than from over-torquing. The beam wrench is fine, but a lot of guys strip out the bolt heads or leave things too loose because they're second guessing themselves. Carbon can handle a lot more than people give it credit for, the real issue is usually a dirty clamp surface or a stem that doesnt fit right. That crack you're seeing might be from a burr on the stem edge, not the 5 Nm. I always use a torque wrench too, but I've also seen a preload on a headset cause a crack that had nothing to do with the bolt.

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