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 is the official technical partner of multiple World Tour and downhill 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 →