[Closed] What's with all these Torx fittings?

Ditto - just re-used my 3mm Allen screws. 😀

AFAIK, Tork ones are supposed to be better as there's more contact surface twixt driver and bolt. We'll, that's the theory. 😕

K I S S with Allen screws.

Torx fittings don't round out as easy!

Think they are lower profile as well so you can get thicker disks without risk of the bolts hitting the forks.

Does your multi-tool not have one on it?

Does your multi-tool not have one on it?

Quite an assumption there.

It's a pain when you first find you need a Torx head and don't have one, but they are infinitely better than allen keys especially for smaller bolts.

much lower head profile, which is necessary for older brakes.
chunkier calipers dont have the clearance for allen headed bolts.

ive put Torx bolts in my bottle cage mounts, it looks much tidier as they sit pretty flush, and i have spare bolts if i loose one out and about.

[img] [/img]

my magura gustavs came with torx keys, good quality ones too 🙂

You need a torx 25!

i need a multitool with one

mines obviously been rendered obsolete

Sram XX has torx head bolts everywhere!

Yeah but if you can afford a full XX group you can afford to have a gibbon fit/adjust it for you….

Torx stuff is all well and good, and most of the rotors I’ve got have Torx fittings, but in all honesty I don’t think there’s any real reason to do away with hex sockets for 99% of bike parts, it’s a common tool which everyone has at home, Torx is far less widespread…

it looks much tidier

...and thats an improtant consideration when you bike looks like that? 😆

I thought one reason was that corporates want a way to reduce the number of home mechanics able to [s]tamper[/s] work on their own car/bike/toaster.

I have a blackendecker saw thats's put together with security torx fasteners. Not that it stopped me [s]tampering[/s] repairing it...

I hope Torx becomes the standard, way better.

I thought one reason was that corporates want a way to reduce the number of home mechanics able to tamper work on their own car/bike/toaster.

Nahh. it's no harder to buy a Torx tool than it is an allen key.

cheesey aluminium allen key bolts are a bugger when they round. torx are much better.

I'm puzzled. I thought Torx had been the standard for umpteen years? Have you not changed a rotor in the last 5 years or so? Good skills!

I seem to have Torx keys, but I'm sure I've never bought one deliberately. Might they have come with my brakes? 🙂

T30 for some Shimano chainring bolts. Definately more grip than the standard allen key.

bassspine - Member
I thought one reason was that corporates want a way to reduce the number of home mechanics able to tamper work on their own car/bike/toaster.

I have a blackendecker saw thats's put together with security torx fasteners. Not that it stopped me tampering repairing it...

You’re not wrong, 10 years ago I worked for a certain large power tool and home appliance manufacturer, Torx, anti-tamper Torx (Torx with a little nipple in the middle) and one way drive fittings were pretty much standard (although you couldn’t guarantee they would use the tame type and sizes of fixing on all products), we’d also bury the fittings in hard to access positions as lots of people have Torx keys but very few have 5” long Torx heads to fit an impact driver…

The difference, of course, is that with a bike I want to be able to carry out running repairs with in the arse end of nowhere using commonly available and easy to carry tools and I don’t want to have to buy a new tool for every other component, if my lawn mower packs up the garage and it’s wealth of tools are 10 seconds walk away…

the bike industry seems to have a bit of a hard on for applying new “standards” at the minute, either adopting from out side or inventing 3 new ways to do the same thing…
Hex keys work, and the justification for T25 fittings on rotors is fair, I have a multi-tool that will work on all my bikes various fittings at the minute, what I don’t want is to have to buy another just because SRAM think Torx is pretty…

I seem to have Torx keys, but I'm sure I've never bought one deliberately. Might they have come with my brakes?

Magura supply them with their bleed kits. I got a 30 with some chainset or other.
I've just invested in a nice workshop quality Park for rotor bolts, which is worth it (About £7 IIRC)

I'm not sure - I would say it is more difficult to overtighten a Torx. They are generally used on smaller bolt heads in the motor trade anyway.

Actually it’s easier to put too much torque on a Torx fitting, the head may not round but you could well damage the parts you’re trying to fit, Torx head bolts are often wasted bellow the head so they shear off before over tightening strips a thread…

considering there are very few fittings on a bike that require more than 15Nm Max, Rounded bolt heads have nothing to do with any kind on inherent flaw in hex head fittings, more like ham fisted operators and worn tools…
Torx keys are not indestructible nor are the bolts, they merely have more working surface area; knuckle draggers will always find a way to bust them…

Really! What do you do for a living cookeaa? (ref your first paragragh above)

ham fisted operators and worn tools

average mountainbiker home mechanic fixing his bike with an allen key that came with the plop bookcase from ikea.

My job title is "Design Engineer" not that I seem to do much "Designing" these days...
Or for that matter work, I seem to be wasting time on here instead...

I agree with cookeaa... I am pretty anal about getting the alan key in straight and keeping it that way. Next time you see some DJ kiddies on 2 year old bikes have a look at their fasteners and you will see what I mean.

My first bike with the bastard things was a '98 Trek 8900 with Hayes discs. First Long ride out guess what happened - the rotors came loose.

Here you go I’d say HT2 crank pinch bolts qualify as a moderately meaty application: [url] http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/global_cycle/en/au/index/tech_support/tech_tips.download.-Par50rparsys-0003-downloadFile.html/Hollowtech%20II%20Crank%20Installation.pdf [/url]

“12-15Nm”

I tend to find that Torx are used for small appications in the motor industry, interior plastic fittings for example, although that may well not be the case in the latest cars. Torx wasn't around when I was a pre-prototype engineer so can't say which is actually stronger, just from my experience of taking my Rohloff wheel to a LBS for a new rim - they rounded the T20 Torx on the hub axle plate, and hack sawed the thing off! When I questioned them, they produced a foldable trail type tool, which they used to TRY and remove the Torx - in that case an Allen key would have prevented the disaster. I showed them the Snap-on catalogue as, 'this is the type of tool you need'and refused to pay for a new axle plate. I use a quarter inch drive, ratchet screwdriver with a Snap-on Torx socket! (You couldn't put more that 15nM through it)

Torx I am sure is a trickto get you to have to but another set of tools. A mates brake broke at Laggan on the first trip there. We needed a torx to remove and repair it which we could have done. None of the 4 of us had a multitool with torx, passing riders didnt either. Very disapointing. Ive changed all my torx to allen bolts. Every man and his dog you pass on the trail has an Allen multi tool.

Home mechanicing requires purchase of tools shocker!

Get the decent Park T25 key as well, I bought a cheap Torx set off eBay and it was ridiculously crap, it was so soft all the points on the key just folded over.

torx seem to be more susceptible to slip if the key isn't perfectly lined up - or more likely they're less good at holding the key in the correct orientation. Using allen key style torx levers on rotor bolts, the lever can "lean" a bit and I have stripped one bolt that way

<waves hammy fist>

Different tools require different ways of being used shocker!

anotherdeadhero double shocker shocker?

ADH cheeky f^cker shocker more like 😎