- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
But using that mantra we would still be riding Penny Farthings.
Through Axles
- Thread starter Fifelad
- Start date
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But using that mantra we would still be riding Penny Farthings.
What was wrong with the hobby horse?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Wait till you hear about boost and super boost hub widths/axels. That will blow your mind.
T4tomo
Legendary Member
progress, they are,shock horror, better than QR skewers for disc brake wheelsets.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
It's called progress.
For most of us, disc brakes are definitely better than rim brakes. But QR axles don't work as well as thru-axles do with disc brakes.
Though of course, if they had just "left things alone", QR would never have come along in the first place
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Although in 2 decades of riding with discs with nary a problem I never once thought to myself "I wish someone would come up with something better than this because this hassle-free life simply isn't good enough."
DogmaStu
Senior Member
Thru-Axles do more than QR's do in that they make the forks stiffer, improving the braking function.
MTB's adopted them because QR's could be 'ejected' from the fork under hard braking - disc brakes have stronger forces at play, hence better stopping power. This lesson naturally carries over to road bikes.
Stiffening the bike via the forks also improves stability, handling etc.
Thru-Axles mean no more QR's becoming loose while riding and potentially causing a dangerous situation.
It's progress that has actual benefits, like disc brakes do, like tubeless does. Sure, my rim-braked, QR bike does the job as have millions before it but the newer tech is an evolution that works.
MTB's adopted them because QR's could be 'ejected' from the fork under hard braking - disc brakes have stronger forces at play, hence better stopping power. This lesson naturally carries over to road bikes.
Stiffening the bike via the forks also improves stability, handling etc.
Thru-Axles mean no more QR's becoming loose while riding and potentially causing a dangerous situation.
It's progress that has actual benefits, like disc brakes do, like tubeless does. Sure, my rim-braked, QR bike does the job as have millions before it but the newer tech is an evolution that works.
youngoldbloke
The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
But why are thru axles roughly double the price of QR skewers?
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
They aren't - have you tried to price up some XT QR Skewers, similar price to Rock Shox Through Axels. I've looked, and they aren't cheap used either. Shimano QR's being brilliant and all that though !
My rear through axel has come slightly loose before, so it does happen.
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
One small worry I have with TA vs QR is that with QR the whole assembly stays together when you remove the wheel, but with TA you remove the axle and put it down, which offers the possibility that it'll disappear into the black hole that seems to follow me around, swallowing up tools, ball bearings and anything else "just put to one side for a moment".
I've also hear tales of people removing a front wheel to load onto or into a car, driving to a trail centre and then realising they have no TA with them to refit the wheel.
I've also hear tales of people removing a front wheel to load onto or into a car, driving to a trail centre and then realising they have no TA with them to refit the wheel.
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Because we'd still be on penny-farthings if "they" left things alone.
What's wrong with progress?
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Whenever I remove a TA I put it back in place as soon as the wheel is out. I find this works for many, many things.
I've lost count of the number of QR springs I've lost.
figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
When I am snugly set up in my garage/workshop with all the time in the world, so do I. On the side of a trail in horizontal freezing rain I tend to prioritise speed over care (rightly or wrongly).
I rarely remove a QR fully - perhaps to replace a cassette or service a freehub but I'm not doing this by the trailside so take care to put it back in place as soon as the QR is out. I've never lost a QR spring.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I'm not really in disagreement with the stiffness bit, but I've yet to see empirical evidence of a performance improvement in either cornering or braking.
As for wheels falling off...that's purely operator error. When I was an MTB trainer the first thing any of my students were drilled to do was their pre ride checks. A diligent rider then knows before they even swing a leg over the bike that they have a problem. The issue is not with the equipment, but that most riders simply are not diligent when it comes to their pre ride prep.
Off road we thrashed them about as youd expect. Then as part of the defensive tactics syllabus we quite literally were throwing bikes at each other, and trying to grab them off each other by the wheel (the rider holding the bike in a fend off position, presenting the wheel as the nearest target for the aggressor to grab) and in 17 years of delivering such training no one lost a wheel.
I don't really have a downer on thru axle, my latest Trek has it and it rides without issue, but I do call into question the validity and certainty the magnitude of some of the supposed benefits. It sounds more to me like the marketing spiel has in most cases been swallowed as gospel with little in the way of critical analysis by consumers.
