That shop in Tucson that laughed at my makeshift torque wrench

I rolled into a small shop in Tucson last summer after snapping a bolt on a customer's carbon frame. I was using this jerry-rigged setup with a beam torque wrench and a socket adapter I'd filed down myself. The head mechanic there, older guy with a gray beard, took one look and just laughed. He pulled out a proper click-type torque wrench from his box and handed it to me, told me to finish the job with it. That moment made me realize how much I was risking other people's bikes by cheaping out on tools. I went home and replaced every sketchy tool in my box that week. Has anyone else had a shop call them out on janky equipment and change how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron8841d ago

...so that reminds me of the time I was fixing my buddy's old truck and I showed up with a screwdriver I had sharpened into a flathead using a bench grinder. It worked fine for what I needed but the guy at the parts store gave me this look like I was trying to rebuild a spaceship with a rock. Told me to just spend the $8 on a real one or I was gonna strip everything. He was right though, I wrecked two more screws before I finally listened. Funny how a little shame from a stranger can save you a lot of headache later.

miles721d agoMost Upvoted

Used to be the same way, thought I knew better with my "custom" tools. But that parts store guy was dead on, after snapping a couple of bits I finally broke down and bought the right tool for ten bucks. Saved me a ton of swearing later.