I was over-torquing stem bolts for 6 years before a torque wrench taught me better

Took a used Park Tool TW-5 to a customer's carbon bike and realized my wrist was putting out way more than the spec on the bars, like 7 Nm instead of 5. Now I check every stem and seatpost clamp with it, has anyone else found their grip strength changes with the weather or after a long day?

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wood.emma14d ago

Noticed the same thing with my hands after a long ride or even a cold morning, my grip gets way heavier. The twist is nobody talks about how much your forearm fatigue messes with your feel. When your muscles are tired, they shake and you end up compensating by squeezing harder, so you think you're at 5 but you're really at 7. That's why I started testing on a scrap piece of bar at home before touching a customer's bike, just to reset my baseline. Almost like calibrating yourself before you calibrate the bike.