Feedback Sports Range Click Torque Wrench

The Feedback Sports Range Click Torque Wrench is a home or travel tool for torque application to fasteners. Too heavy to willingly carry in a pocket, and with other critical shortcomings, for the price there are better value and much more user-friendly tools out there.

Torque matters – more than ever. The risk of damaging a component or your bike's frame by applying too much torque, or damaging yourself through too little torque leading to a handlebar, stem or other component coming loose is A Thing. Fortunately there is now a veritable plethora of affordable, accurate, lightweight and easy-to-use torque tools out there, meaning there's simply no excuse for under- or over-torquing fasteners.

In the last few years I've been mightily impressed by two tools – the £60 Prestacycle TorqRatchet Pro Deluxe and the £80 Feedback Sports Range Torque and Ratchet.

Both tools are based on PrestaCycle's excellent platform, including a micro-ratcheting reversible head capable of applying a stupendous 60Nm of force to undo or do up large fasteners – think pedals, crank bolts, that sort of thing. The measured application of torque is limited to 10Nm, which covers the vast majority of day-to-day applications. If you're working on pedals, cassettes, Center Lock brake rotors or some cranksets you'll be needing more like a 30-40Nm tool, and the only common in-between use is the 12-14Nm of a Shimano Hollowtech II crankarm.

Both tools weigh around 70g plus bits and cases – so they are very easily carried in a summer jersey pocket for use on the road or trail. The best torque tool is the one you have on you, otherwise you're just guessing – so portability matters. As does usability – features such as spinning thumbwheels to quickly snug up a fastener single-handed, the ability to undo fasteners without concern for the tool, and to be able to apply force in a controlled manner to minimise the risk of slipping and rounding out a fastener.

With that context, we turn to the new Feedback Sports Range Click Torque Wrench. Feedback Sports has discontinued the previous Range tool linked to above – meet the new Range torque tool. It's quite a change. In fact, the only similarity is the name.

Click’s the name

The new Range Torque is no longer a beam-style tool, which relies on the deflection ('bending') of a known-stiffness length of metal to then trigger a reading on a calibrated scale. Beam-style tools require the user to watch the scale, and stop when the desired torque is indicated. The new Range is a click-style tool, which has an internal spring and a cam system, which applies force down on the spring before 'clicking' out, indicating the desired torque is met. The more you compress the spring by winding it inwards, the more torque is applied before the cam clicks over. So the indication is both audible and physical, as you feel the tool click over.

Unlike the previous Range tool or its Prestacycle cousin, the new Range is bi-directional, meaning it can measure torque applied clockwise or anti-clockwise. Anti-clockwise threads on bikes occur in left-side pedals, drive-side threaded bottom bracket cups, and freewheel hubs. That's about it. And given all these applications require way more than 14Nm torque, this feature really isn't.

So again, coming back to common use cases, the only edge the new Range has over the old one or the Prestacycle alternative is that 14Nm for Hollowtech II cranks.

Speaking of which, in the Range Click instructional video Feedback Sports shows a big red 'X' during the section where it's used to tighten a Shimano Hollowtech II crank bolt. The Hollowtech II bolts are a 12-14Nm spec, so it struck me as a bit odd. Its tech support clarified that yes, the Range Click is okay to use for up to the maximum 14Nm Shimano specifies.

In that same video Feedback says not to use the Range Click to loosen a fastener. This means if you're trying to set up a bike with a bit of trial and error, you'll be constantly swapping between the Range Click and a normal hex tool to fasten and loosen bolts – hardly optimal. Feedback tech support confirms that you can use the Range Click to undo fasteners, but you must take care not to exceed the 14Nm maximum. There's a chance that 14Nm+ might be required to undo a seized or overtightened fastener, and the only way to then guarantee you don't damage your Range Click will be to wind the torque up to 14Nm and then attempt loosening. If it comes loose without clicking, great. If it clicks out, you'll need a fixed tool. This is quite a faff, to wind the Range Click all the way to 14Nm and back – roughly 20 turns each way – and I honestly can't see many people doing this.

So I'm struggling to find a valid reason to regularly need between 10 and 14Nm in the workshop and certainly out on the road or trail, apart from Shimano cranks. And literally zero need to do so for a left-hand thread.

Premium quality

The Range Click feels nice in the hand, with a premium finish. The 13 high-quality bits include 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm hex, T10, 25 and 30 Torx, plus three long bits – 4/5mm hex and a T25, for the most common applications around stems and brakes. The bits click into the head and are retained with a decent magnet, so the chances of coming out and getting lost are minimal.

The provided case is nicely done, with an internal pocket for a few alternative bits and pieces.

The tool plus all the bits in the case come to a pretty hefty 281g. The tool itself is 148g – exactly twice the old Range, longer and mostly thicker and wider along its length.

Drawbacks

The all-important torque scale is rather hard to read, relying on you squinting to spot when the silver line meets the desired grading on the side as you wind the silver setting-knob up or down. There's a set of even gradients on one side – 2, 4, 6 etc – and odd on the opposite side – 3, 5, 7 etc. The need to wind the scale up and down differs from the old Range or the Prestacycle version, which returned to zero automatically.

This is the first major drawback of the Range Click – the near-constant need to be winding it up or down for very common settings. I'm OK with this sort of thing for occasional torque settings, like when needing to torque a cassette, rotor lockring or pedal, but using the Range Click to work around 3, 4 or 5Nm fasteners gets old real fast.

The second drawback is a lack of thumbwheel to quickly advance fasteners to a snug-enough state to apply torque. This was a key feature of the old Range tool, and is sorely missed.

The third – and most fundamental – drawback of the Range Click is how you apply force to the tool. Being a click-style tool, it's critical that you only apply force where instructed – in this case, to the knurled section just 6.5mm from the end of the tool. For reference, my index and middle fingers are together 40mm wide.

If you apply force any closer in to the tool head than the knurled section – for example by gripping it with your index and middle fingers and your thumb – you will apply excess torque, even though the tool still clicks as though everything is fine. I won't go into depth here on the counter-intuitive and rather complex maths/physics involved, just trust me – there's a very good reason click-style torque tools have a line on the handle where you must centre your grip to apply force. Move your grip closer in and you might as well be guessing.

This need to literally hold the Range Click between index finger and thumb is mirrored in the previous Range and the Prestacycle tools with their wee knobs at the end being more obvious to apply force on – but those tools are half the weight, shorter and, critically, have no click function inherent in the process. The combination of needing to hold a heavier, longer tool right at the end between two fingers, that then moves once torque is hit, leads to a greatly increased risk of bits camming out of fasteners, particularly if the bit has a loose fit due to tolerances or previous use. If you're using the longer bits, the problems of stability and grip are much worse.

In comparison, the Syncros Wrench 2.0 Torque – which I only gave 5/10 – is a much more usable tool because of the wider handle, which allows three or four fingers' grip on it. Yes, it's considerably heavier, and no way is it pocketable, whereas the Range Click is half the weight and in a much slimmer case. But the Syncros is half the price and is much more user-friendly. I never had concerns regarding control and application of torque.

Alternatives

If you need a tool that's genuinely pocketable, accurate and easy to use, in my opinion the best option is now the Prestacycle TorqRatchet Pro Deluxe. It's a tool I have permanently within easy reach and use daily in my commercial workshop – and one I would replace in a heartbeat were it to catch fire.

The Topeak Torq Stick looks okay, but suffers the same tiny grip area right at the end and rather heavy weight, unless you remove all the bits first.

You can buy many other 2-14Nm wrenches that will do a better job for far less than the £125 on ask here. Depending on how small and portable you need, and your likely use – do you need 2-14, or will 4-5-6 do? – you can see the best here in our buyer's guide.

Conclusion

Suffice to say, I didn't get on with the Feedback Sports Range Click in the workshop – and lord I tried. After I'd dropped it for the third time I drew a line under the experience, not wanting to risk rounding out more fasteners.

To be clear – this isn't my first rodeo. I run a boutique bike service workshop for profit, can directly compare and contrast with many other tools of a similar nature – including the previous Range torque tool – and have never experienced usability issues like I have with the Range Click.

I've written extensively about other Feedback Sports products, have found them universally excellent, and therefore am genuinely perplexed how this one got out of the lab. On paper the individual features should work as a product. It's when they come together as a system that the experience disappoints.

Right to reply

We put Mike's findings to Feedback Sports, to give them the right to reply:

Re: "Anti-clockwise threads on bikes occur in left-side pedals, drive-side threaded bottom bracket cups, and freewheel hubs. That's about it. And given all these applications require way more than 14Nm torque, this feature really isn't. So again, coming back to common use cases, the only edge the new Range has over the old one or the Prestacycle alternative is that 14Nm for Hollowtech II cranks."

FBS says: "Pivot bolts on an array of full suspension bikes use reverse threads to stop untightening during use. Reverse threads are also used on some RockShox Fork Lowers. All fit within the 14Nm max force value."

Re: "Feedback tech support confirms that you can use the Range Click to undo fasteners, but you must take care not to exceed the 14Nm maximum. There's a chance that 14Nm+ might be required to undo a seized or overtightened fastener, and the only way to then guarantee you don't damage your Range Click will be to wind the torque up to 14Nm and then attempt loosening. If it comes loose without clicking, great. If it clicks out, you'll need a fixed tool. This is quite a faff, to wind the Range Click all the way to 14Nm and back..."

FBS: "Think of good practice in a professional environment and use a standard hex key – it's the same reason why a car mechanic uses a breaker bar for wheel nuts to undo them and a torque wrench to bring them back up to 120-240Nm...

Swapping between a torque wrench and a standard hex key is also standard practice within a workshop or bike fitting environment – there is no 'trial and error' in setting up a bike. It is either right or wrong. The use of a torque wrench is for finalising the values across the bike (think stem bolts, bars, saddle position etc. and upon assembly, think crank bolts, brake bolts, cassette lockring etc.)

Winding between force values is also standard practice for all click-type torque wrenches – all click-type torque wrenches – but this was not penalised in your review of the Topeak Torq Stick."

Re: "Too heavy to willingly carry in a pocket."

FBS: "The Range Click Torque Wrench is not a trail-side tool. It is a workshop tool. Designed to be used in the workshop or as a tool for traveling mechanics and enthusiasts that like/need the precise operation of the tool when reassembling their bikes at an event or destination. You can put this in your pocket should you wish, but with a plethora of more suitable alternatives – like the Feedback Fixed Torque Ratchet Kit – why would you want to? It should not be penalised for not being as accomplished as something else when it is not designed for that function."

In response, Mike says: "Their own marketing says it can be used 'on the go'. And it comes in a soft roll, not a hard case as you'd expect for a shop tool. They do not say 'not for use out on a ride'. So the comments re weight being higher than their previous model are valid. They do not market it as a 'shop tool'."
[Note: In its description of the tool FBS says: "All of the above are wrapped up safely in the tough, padded case with snap closure that will keep the tools together and protect them from harm while you're out exploring the trails".]

Re: "The all-important torque scale is rather hard to read, relying on you squinting to spot when the silver line meets the desired grading on the side as you wind the silver setting-knob up or down."

FBS: "Being hard to read is purely subjective and is again something else that was not brought up in the Topeak Torq Stick review, despite having the same style of mechanism and arguably more condensed typography and viewing space. Everyone has their own specific optimum viewing distance, but there are ways to circumvent any sight issues."

Re: "The first major drawback of the Range Click – the near-constant need to be winding it up or down for very common settings. I'm OK with this sort of thing for occasional torque settings, like when needing to torque a cassette, rotor lockring or pedal, but using the Range Click to work around 3, 4 or 5Nm fasteners gets old real fast."

FBS: "Seeing as this is a Click-type torque wrench, you need to return it to zero, something that is automatic in beam-type torque wrenches, 100% correct. But you must return every click-type torque wrench to zero, or adjust between force values, again something that is not to be penalised, it is the nature of every click-type torque wrench – just like in your Topeak Torq Stick review, which was not penalised for this mechanism."

Re: "The need to literally hold the Range Click between index finger and thumb...The combination of needing to hold a heavier, longer tool right at the end between two fingers, that then moves once torque is hit, leads to a greatly increased risk of bits camming out of fasteners, particularly if the bit has a loose fit due to tolerances or previous use. If you're using the longer bits, the problems of stability and grip are much worse."

FBS: "If this is the usual action for the reviewer, it is no wonder they dropped the Feedback Click Torque wrench three times. Should this be how they use torque wrenches, common sense might have suggested to stabilise the tool with another hand, stopping any slipping. And if the bolts are rounding between 2-14Nm, it says considerably more about the bolts being used or the mechanic using the tool than it does the tool itself, with its hardened S2 tool bits and workshop design."

In response, Mike says: "Their own video shows it being held between forefinger and thumb."

Verdict

Relatively heavy, difficult-to-hold tool that is more expensive than better alternatives