# S-Works Chainring Bolts



## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Anyone have trouble with these things? I changed my chainrings over to Praxis last night and when torquing them down come to find that they are SUPER fragile. Like...ridiculously so. Snapped FOUR of them and I barely got past snug. Was going nice and gentle not even half of the torque value they call for in the service instructions and THWACK! Cracked. These are the bolts that have a slot on the backside of it, not a hex design. 

Even better.....the S-Works spider doesn't take a standard replacement bolt. Oh no...its a "proprietary" bolt design. So now I have to wait till Monday to order and wait a week for the parts to come in. Unless I want to pay $40 to have them overnighted, that is. 

A fricking chanring bolt shuts you down? NOT COOL, Big S.


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## Typetwelve (Jul 1, 2012)

Sorry to hear that...and I wish is had some advice...but I don't.

On a related note however, I just changed my FSA chainrings over to Praxis today myself. The FSA bolts were rated at 104 in/lbs so that's what I torqued them down to. Had no problem with them.

I will say that the Praxis chainrings shift like a champ. Movement from small to large chainring is clean and instant...I am extremely impressed (running a 105 group BTW).

I'm taking it out for a 30-40 mile ride tomorrow...Ill let you know how it comes out. Ill be looking forward to you thoughts once you're back on the road.


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## Randy99CL (Mar 27, 2013)

I knew a guy who didn't realize the difference between in/lb and ft/lb.
Not saying you are like that, you just reminded me of him 'cause he broke lots of bolts.


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## Typetwelve (Jul 1, 2012)

Randy99CL said:


> I knew a guy who didn't realize the difference between in/lb and ft/lb.
> Not saying you are like that, you just reminded me of him 'cause he broke lots of bolts.


Holy crap! There's all kinds of things you blow apart on a bike if you did that. Imagine torquing the seat post down to 55 ft/lb!


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

RkFast said:


> Anyone have trouble with these things? I changed my chainrings over to Praxis last night and when torquing them down come to find that they are SUPER fragile. Like...ridiculously so. Snapped FOUR of them and I barely got past snug. Was going nice and gentle not even half of the torque value they call for in the service instructions and THWACK! Cracked. These are the bolts that have a slot on the backside of it, not a hex design.
> 
> Even better.....the S-Works spider doesn't take a standard replacement bolt. Oh no...its a "proprietary" bolt design. So now I have to wait till Monday to order and wait a week for the parts to come in. Unless I want to pay $40 to have them overnighted, that is.
> 
> A fricking chanring bolt shuts you down? NOT COOL, Big S.


Color me unsurprised. Was only a matter of time this happened what with proprietary forks, headsets, and cranks/BBs.

Dick thing to do...but it was bound to happen.


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## jnbrown (Dec 9, 2009)

Yes I found that out.
I was getting a clicking sound from my BB so I thought I would start by tightening the chainring bolts and stripped one of them. When I looked at it close up I was surprised how small the threads are compared to a conventional one. I do own and use a torque wrench but didn't have the Torx bit to fit the bolts. Ended up taking it to a Specialized dealer and they fixed the problem by taking apart the BB and reassembling. They said something about the spider being loose and they replaced the stripped chainring bolt with a Campy one since they didn't have any Specialized. They only charged my their cost on the the Campy bolt since was so expensive. So now i will never touch those bolts without a torque wrench.


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## Jackhammer (Sep 23, 2014)

jnbrown said:


> Yes I found that out.
> I was getting a clicking sound from my BB so I thought I would start by tightening the chainring bolts and stripped one of them. When I looked at it close up I was surprised how small the threads are compared to a conventional one. I do own and use a torque wrench but didn't have the Torx bit to fit the bolts. Ended up taking it to a Specialized dealer and they fixed the problem by taking apart the BB and reassembling. They said something about the spider being loose and they replaced the stripped chainring bolt with a Campy one since they didn't have any Specialized. They only charged my their cost on the the Campy bolt since was so expensive. So now i will never touch those bolts without a torque wrench.


I was pleasantly surprised S-Works bolts are interchangeable with Record 10 and my LBS gave me a free one. Yahoo!


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## NealH (May 2, 2004)

When my S-works rings wore out at about 38k miles, I changed to Shimano rings. The bolts did not fit just right so I ordered a new generic steel set off Amazon, a set that appeared would work since its length was a little different. They worked well.


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## 11spd (Sep 3, 2015)

Will only share my experience with chainring bolts unrelated to S-works specific bolts and rings. Chain ring thickness matters...including counterbore depth to create flushness.
Net thickness maybe slightly less with Praxis rings causing bolts to 'bottom' before they grow in torque due to retaining the rings. I have experienced this with other bolts. So the bolts have to match the ring and the spider and related counterbores.

So, OP, you may or may not have been hamfisted to break bolts. But they barely need to be tightened beyond being snugged. Blue Loctite isn't a bad thing for keeping them in place in lieu of excessive torque which can strip or snap these relatively fragile bolts. 

My experience.


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