Frame Taps M5

M5×0.8 is the most common bicycle-frame thread. It holds bottle-cage bosses, the bolts on most stem clamp faces, certain water-bottle accessory mounts, and the M5 hardware on disc-brake adapter plates. When an M5 thread on a frame stops accepting a bolt cleanly, the fix is almost always a thread chase rather than a thread repair.

The 1695 Frame Tap M5 chases an existing M5×0.8 thread without cutting new metal. The cutting edges follow the existing thread pitch and major diameter, removing paint overspray, corrosion, or burred-up material that's blocking the thread. A clean M5 thread takes a fresh bolt at hand-torque without grit; a chased thread restores that feel.

When to chase an M5 thread

• Before installing or replacing bottle-cage hardware on a frame that's been painted, repainted, or stored damp
• After a stem-clamp bolt has been over-torqued past spec, distorting the thread profile (chase the female thread; replace the bolt)
• Before mounting a disc-brake adapter on a frame's M5 mounting holes
• After corrosion in a damp-storage environment has built up in unused bottle-cage threads

A chase is not a repair for stripped threads. If the thread is gone (the bolt cuts new threads into the surrounding alloy), the fix is a thread insert; the chase tap won't restore it.

Use with the magnetic handle

The 1695 Frame Tap pairs with our magnetic Handle for Pedal Taps 1695/4BI. The magnetic-collet engagement holds the tap square to the work, which matters on M5×0.8 because the pitch is fine enough that a slight angle on the first turn cuts the thread off-axis.

Specs

• M5×0.8 chase tap
• Hardened tool-steel cutting edges
• Square-shank engagement, compatible with 1695/4BI Handle for Pedal Taps
• Article number: 1695 (M5 size)

For the M3×0.5 size, see our M3 frame tap. For the BSA bottom-bracket shell, see the BSA tap set.

Built in Zreče, Slovenia

Unior has been forging hand tools in Zreče since 1919, and sponsors professional road and mountain-bike race teams. The 1695 tap family draws from Unior's broader machinist-tool catalog, which manufactures thread taps in dozens of pitch sizes for the industrial trade. The bicycle-frame subset is the selection that matters in a working bike shop.

Pro tip from our mechanics

A bottle-cage boss that's seen years of damp storage is the most common M5 thread to need a chase. Two seconds with the tap before installing the cage saves the customer a returned bottle and the shop a callback. Our workshop hand tools guide covers the thread-chase workflow and the rest of the workshop hand-tool layer: Workshop hand tools every bike shop needs →