Tried a torque wrench on my old steel frame, surprised myself

I've been turning wrenches for about 20 years, mostly on vintage bikes. Always did bottom brackets and cranks by feel, never bothered with a torque wrench. Last week I borrowed a decent one from a buddy to check my old Raleigh, and it turned out I was running the crank bolts way tighter than spec. The bolts weren't stripped, but the spider had microfractures I never noticed. Lesson learned, even old school stuff benefits from a little precision. Has anyone else found hidden damage after finally using a torque wrench on older parts?

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the_ruby24d ago

That torque wrench thing got me thinking about an old Peugeot I picked up years ago. The seat post was stuck so bad I ended up using a pipe over the Allen key and some serious elbow grease. Right when I thought it would finally break free, the whole seat post snapped off clean at the frame. Turns out the previous owner had used some kind of galvanic reaction issues, the post was basically welded to the frame by corrosion. Spent three days drilling and using a screw extractor before I gave up and just had a buddy weld a new seat lug on. Still never checked torque on anything that bike.