Feedback Sports Range Torque and Ratchet

The Feedback Sports Range Torque Ratchet is a lightweight, compact tool for working on your bike while adhering to ever-more-critical torque settings. Made from premium materials with a price tag to match, this may be the perfect Significant Event Present for the cyclist in your life.

• Pros: Wide 2-10Nm range, every bit you're likely to ever need, intuitive use, multi-functional for undoing and tightening without removing, small-degree ratcheting, compact clearance for bottle cages etc
• Cons: Small scale that can be tricky to read at first, need to check or reset after each reading, case can be a bit fiddly, no internal storage for bits on a ride

Feedback Sports has a strong reputation for not only in-house-born products, but also buying the rights to existing niche products, evolving and bringing them to broad markets with its own brand and flair, a good example being the Chain Keeper which it licenses from Butter.

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In the same vein, the Range Torque Ratchet started life as the still-available (and cheaper) Prestacycle TorqRatchet. FBS looked at the Prestacycle version and decided the scale at the torquing end needed work. As with the first version of Silca's pretty cool Ti-Torque, the scale was just too hard to read to attain accuracy – so FBS changed the readout mechanism into a circular dial that spun as torque increased, greatly reducing the opportunity for over- or under-tightening.

Into the mix goes a nifty case and 14 assorted S2 steel bits, and you have another Feedback Sports premium product.

Ratcheting tools should be on every cyclist's workbench – in tight spaces, long tools often get snarled up, ball-ended tools are often a poor fit and don't work for Torx/Philips fittings, and you don't want to be endlessly removing and reinserting an L-shaped tool. Apart from the time and frustration, it's not good for the tool bit or the fastener you're tightening – every interaction of tool in/out causes wear, which adds up over time into increasingly poor fit and risk of damage.

On the Range tool the thumbswitch-actuated reversible-direction ratchet is rated to 60Nm of torque and engages at 6-degree increments – meaning even in the tightest spaces you can get on with work. You can also spin the bit using the serrated thumbwheel – again, very handy.

Regarding accuracy and repeatability, FBS says, 'During 3rd party testing at an accredited test lab, the Range's average uncertainty was found to be +/-0.07 Nm. The tests were conducted at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10Nm. The re-calibrating feature ensures that the Range stays accurate throughout each use as well as throughout its lifetime.' FBS claims that 'exceeds ISO standards' and with no need for recalibration (remember, you're calibrating it each time) you have a life-long friend.

The case features laser-cut foam cutouts to hold the tool and the 14 bits. A grumble I have is that the foam holds them a bit too well – sometimes getting a bit out was a two-handed gloves-off affair. Each bit's home is clearly named, as is the bit itself, making selection easy.

You get T10, 20, 25 and 30 Torx bits, a Phillips 2, and 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8mm hex bits. The 8mm is a fairly rare addition, handy so you can get your pedals nice and tight if needed out on the trail – remembering, the ratchet mechanism is good for 60Nm of welly. You get a longer 35mm version of the 5mm hex and T25 as well, very handy to reach brake calliper bolts which are usually surrounded by bits of calliper or frame.

The case is a jersey-pocket-friendly 17 x 8 x 4cm, and at 220g won't weigh you down. Of course the case and all the bits is a bit overkill if you're out for a day ride, so I usually took the tool plus 3/4/5mm and maybe a T25 depending on the bike and what I might be fettling along the way.

Could the Range be an effective on-ride multi-tool? I believe so, with judicious bit selection as the ratchet itself only weighs 75g. The only downside is the loose bits – out of the case you need to store them someplace. Many cheap toolsets include those red rubbery-plasticky bit holders, which work perfectly well for the purpose. Using one of those to hold four or so bits, the Range fitted easily into a tool roll or wallet. It would be great to see FBS add a little three or four-bit holder to the case for on-ride pocketable use in future – maybe one that slid onto the arm of the ratchet to keep things together, or spring-retained cutouts in the ratchet arm itself.

In a workshop setting I found myself using the Range quite often – the two-way ratcheting and torque measurement proving pretty handy when setting up stems and handlebars. Being able to tighten, check, loosen, reposition, tighten again, check again, then finally torque down to spec without removing the bit once was both speedy and reduces bit/fastener wear as a bonus.

> Beginner's guide to bike tools

The actual trick of eyeballing the gauge is one that with practice becomes second nature. The scale is in bold for whole units, with 0.5Nm increments marked. Setting to zero is a simple thumbing of the dial via a small window.You learn to position the ratchet where you can push or pull on the knob to effect the torque deflection; it's also a good way to 'train' your fingers to what is roughly spec, before using the tool for the final setting.

FBS even shows you in the packaging where to position your fingers for tightening/loosening (on the ratchet arm), and tightening to spec (on the knob). Now I'm the first person to call BS on the idea of 'calibrated fingers', and the amount of force needed for any given torque is of course related to where you are pushing on the tool arm. But over time you get a ballpark feeling.

I did my own tests against various other torque tools, and sure enough the Range was on the money. No concerns there.

> Buyer's Guide: 6 of the best torque wrenches

Is 2-10Nm 'enough' for a pocketable tool? I say yes. Looking through the bible that is Zinn And The Art Of Road Bike Maintenance, there are few occasions you need more than 10Nm unless you're into esoteric steel components or are faffing with cranks/bottom brackets/cassettes. If you do need to crank on something tight, the non-torque ratchet is good for an eye-watering 60Nm of welly as mentioned – but then it's highly unlikely you'll have the right adapters to hand beyond the 8mm hex provided.

All in all, for £80 including all the bits and case, I really rate the Feedback Sports Range. Accurate for life, doing the job of a number of tools at once, in a lightweight pocketable fashion, it represents value for money – particularly for the travelling cyclist or those needing a pocketable, torque-enabled solution for a ride.

Verdict

A compact, reliable and useful torque-enabled tool for working on bikes, pretty much anywhere