Torque settings 101

The motorcycle that you ride is held together by a bunch of nuts and bolts. Almost every one of these is supposed to be tightened to a specific torque setting as specified by the manufacturer of your machine.

What is a Torque setting or whats Torquing? What tool is used for Torquing?

The torque setting of a particular nut or bolt is the measure of twisting force required to tighten it to correct specification. The unit of torque is Newton metres(N.m)for European and Foot pounds(lb.ft or ft.lb)for American machines. A torque wrench is the tool used to give measured torque to nuts and bolts and a good torque wrench will have both the units of measurement on it.

Could you please tell us more about Torquing?

Torque settings are a very important part of motorcycle maintenance that no biker can afford to overlook. Torque values are prescribed by the manufacturer based on various factors such as application, size, operating temperature and material of the particular nut, bolt and of the object bolted down. The list of these values for your motorcycle can be found in your owners manual, service manual and trusted websites.

Properly torquing the nuts and bolts of your high performance motorcycle can be crucial to its life and health. Over-torquing (too tight) may lead to stripping of the threads and hindrance or even damage to parts, among other things. Under-torquing (too loose) on the other hand has its own problems and may result in nuts and bolts coming loose, parts falling off, rattling noises and vibrations. For example, a Triumph Street Twin’s oil sump drain bolt has a torque setting 25Nm. As the drain bolt is made of mild steel or stainless steel and the oil sump is of aluminium alloy, over-torquing the drain bolt may very well strip the thread in the oil sump. Fixing this is a quite an expense, not to mention a big headache. On the other hand if one under-torques the bolts holding the front brake calliper to the fork on the same motorcycle which are supposed to be 21Nm they may come loose and cause braking failure. Well, I will leave it to you to imagine the outcome of such a scenario.

More from the Author

I cannot overstate the importance of torque settings. For anyone who wants to be on top of his motorcycling game, a good torque wrench and a list of torque settings for the bike is an absolute necessity.

About the Author :-

Mr. Rahul Dilip Bam cut his teeth on motorcycles, riding, repairing, testing and touring on them since he was old enough to manage turning a key in the ignition. He is never seen without his motorcycle and can be seen riding around the country on his Triumph Street Twin and Honda Africa Twin.

Mr.Rahul Bam is a Hands on rider and one of our contributory authors