Do you tighten your water bottle bolts to a specific torque?

[Veloo]

I tighten just about every other bolt with a torque wrench to a specific torque but do the water bottle bolts by feel - ie, does the cage wiggle.

So just curious, does anyone tighten to a certain spec?

5Nm is common in other spots but sounds kind of high for that spot.

A quick search brings up 2 and 3 Nm which seems to be similar to what I've done by hand.

[alexihnen]

Quick answer - no, never thought about it before.

[johnniecakes]

Nope, just snug and tug. If your concerned about over tightening use a nylon bolt. The bolt will strip before the boss.

[weiwentg]

2Nm sounds like about finger tight. I've aimed for finger tight in the past. Also, for the record, Speedplay cleats say 2.5 Nm if using a torque wrench, or until the screws feel notchy if no torque wrench. They specially designed the screws so that you get a notchy feeling at their desired torque. Anyway, that's pretty little torque, and I think my water bottles are about that tight.

[Dave]

I don't use a torque wrench on any M5 or M6 bolt on my bikes.

[Peter P.]

Trek's specs for M5 waterbottle bolt- 2Nm, 3Nm max.

Typical spec for M5 waterbottle bolt- 3Nm, 4Nm max.

Both are from Lennard Zinn's, Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.

[Bob Ross]

No, the only places I use a torque wrench are
- stem bolts (both steerer and bar locations)
- seatpost collar (force of habit learned from carbon frames, so I do it on my steel frames also)
- headset preload
- front derailleur clamp

edit: Oops, forgot one:
- cleats

[bigbill]

Snug. I have metal and plastic cages; I use an allen wrench lengthwise and make it hand tight.

[Clean39T]

One thing I'll say is do not under any circumstance tighten an empty waterbottle cage bolt against a simple riv-nut mount on an alloy, carbon, or titanium frame - it's just asking to have the spinning nut of death rise from the grave and haunt you. And yet people do it. Constantly.

[MikeD]

Anyone use LocTite on water bottle cage bolts? I guess I've had them come loose on me on a rare occasion.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

One thing I'll say is do not under any circumstance tighten an empty waterbottle cage bolt against a simple riv-nut mount on an alloy, carbon, or titanium frame - it's just asking to have the spinning nut of death rise from the grave and haunt you. And yet people do it. Constantly.

So, you need to tighten it when the bottle cage is full?

[thwart]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Anyone use LocTite on water bottle cage bolts? I guess I've had them come loose on me on a rare occasion.

Ideal place to use beeswax… at least, IME.

[Veloo]

Now I have to go find a scrap frame and see what torque value will cause the rivnut to spin out.

Originally Posted by Clean39T

One thing I'll say is do not under any circumstance tighten an empty waterbottle cage bolt against a simple riv-nut mount on an alloy, carbon, or titanium frame - it's just asking to have the spinning nut of death rise from the grave and haunt you. And yet people do it. Constantly.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by tomato coupe

So, you need to tighten it when the bottle cage is full?

Ha ha, no, don't tighten the bolt without a cage on there.. syntax my friend.

[tomato coupe]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Ha ha, no, don't tighten the bolt without a cage on there.. syntax my friend.

Well the syntax says it has to be either an empty water bottle, an empty cage, or an empty bolt. I guess it's the third?