All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

TOUR 02/2017
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Screwing chainrings

Reader’s question

With regard to the issue "Screwing chainrings" I would like to know whether or not I have to grease the bolts and to which torque the bolts must be tightened. Cranks are not necessarily supplied with manufacturers’ information. Many cranks are supplied ex works without assembly grease on the chainring bolts. In addition, there are indications on torque values circulating on the internet, such as "aluminium chainring bolts 8-9 Nm, steel 12-14 Nm". How do I do it properly?

Reply by Dirk Zedler, TOUR technology expert and bicycle expert

Personally speaking I would always liberally apply grease to the bolts and/or nuts of chainrings. This prevents noises as well as corrosion. As to the torque values: The torques indicated by Shimano in their documentation for chainring fastening are 8-11 Newton metres, the torques indicated by SRAM are 8-9 Newton metres for aluminium and 12-14 Newton metres for steel. Campagnolo do not indicate a range, but the precise torque value of 8 Newton metres. These values are taken from the original manufacturer documentation. For my part, I would recommend that you always go to the bottom limit of the indicated torque values. According to our experience, this always worked well in the past. If bolts come loose, you can increase moderately; however never exceed the upper limit of the indicated torque value.

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