I am a bit of a nut when it comes to obeying torque specs, especially with carbon stuff everywhere these days.
I already own a big full size torque wrench, 1/4″ drive, huge.. but when you put a socket with a 4mm allen head on it you tend to let the bit squirm and you can strip out the nut you are working on. Also with a 14″ long lever the low torque limits on bike parts feel like nothing.
Enter the Guistaforza from Effetto Mariposa
It is very small, about the size of regular T-Handle allen wrench.
Because of the small size, it works great on bike size parts, it does not ratchet like almost every other torque wrench I have used. It came out even in my totally non scientific test where I compared it to my Ritchey Torqkey and the full size no name $40 torque wrench and they all seemed to read the same at 5nm.
It comes housed in a little plastic box. The box is sort of pain to fit the ziploc baggy full of bits and one long bit with the torque wrench in. Not a show stopper, but not convenient either.
It looks like they make a pro model now that comes with a $2 injection molded case.
As you can see in the pic above it adjusts by turning the knob at the bottom of the tool to the desired setting between 2-16Nm.
Overall its a very nice tool, it works well, the small size and light weight make it perfect for working on bikes. In fact it’s so nice you will check the torque on every bolt on your bike… I did.
This tools has really picked up a lot of momentum and is now even available through REI, which means Park should make their own version.
Just for comparisons sake here are 3 torque wrenches side by side. The Ritchey Torqkey, guistaforza and a cheap “clicker” type torque wrench (that I have since sold, and replaced with the Park TW-2)