Do you really need to torque a through axle?

[PCeBiker]

First of all, there is a nut on the opposite side of the fork. The position of the nut is set and fixed by a little screw.

That's the part I didn't know.
I thought the fork itself was threaded so the QR lever could only be tightened in one direction.

Is that the screw?

That looks a little tricky?
I guess the set scew locks the nut in place, and you remove it to let the nut spin so you can adjust the QR locked position?

But you can't see the nut, so you don't know what it's doing, and if it's rotating or not?
Looks like it will take some fussing around to get it adjusted?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Chargeride I do not want to mislead you. Here's how it looks on the Trance E+

The opposite side to the handle/clamp.

 

[PCeBiker]

(usually it is vertically! so the clamp cannot open by hitting a rock),

I clamp my lever around the fork tube aiming "down wind".
I figure it's best protected from getting caught on anything.
The lever is even kinda shaped to fit around the tub.
I'm also nervous about having my wheel fall off so I tighten up my QR lever until it kinda hurts and leaves a "dent" in my hand.

I Don't like how I can't stand the bike on the fork tubes after I remove the wheel, because the dial for the rebound adjustment sticks out further than the fork tube dropouts,..

The dial is delicate and it rotates easily so it doesn't need to be so tall.

Maybe I'll take the grinder to it and cut it in half to give it proper clearance.

 

[BlackHand]

On mine you have to fulky oprn the lever to sit in the slot to be able to turn the axle, which means when it tightens you have to guess the torque so it will be tight when you close the lever.
I havent noticed the other side, I'll have a look.

Is that the screw?
View attachment 186468

My Haibike has one in the same spot. I've always assumed it was for the derailleur hanger, but have never needed to mess with it.

FWIW my thru axle is similar to the one Foofer posted. Pull out the handle and you can rotate to any position. Push it in and it engages with the thru axle so you can tighten or loosen it. Really handy because without that feature I would have to remove the fender stays every time I need to remove the wheel. Thus allows me to ratchet around them.

 

[PedalUma]

Just tighten it down and check, modify, then rotate it to the 'downwind' position.

 

[spokewrench]

I have never used a torque wrench on a bicycle. 67 years and still riding. I have never stripped a bicycle axle thread. Having wheel nuts at the proper torque does not mean they are not going to come loose. The secret to wheel nuts not coming loose, is use two and counter-tighten them. If your axle is not long enough, buy a longer one. On a really short cheapo hub motor axle, I had to buy some 12 mm nuts and saw them in two to make thin nuts.

I started riding 71 years ago and have had no trouble except with a QR. The axles I remember have used serrated nuts. Tighten the nuts to take up axle elasticity, and the elasticity will keep the serrations pressed into the dropouts.

A couple of years ago I bought a new e-bike. A couple of months later I gave it a lateral shove before mounting and discovered play on the front wheel. It had come with a hard stainless steel washer under the QR nut, which had worked loose because the serrations couldn't press into the dropout. No such washer belonged on that axle.

My fourth e-bike was my first with a front axle that simply screws in, which I much prefer.

 

[PedalUma]

I started riding 71 years ago and have had no trouble except with a QR. The axles I remember have used serrated nuts. Tighten the nuts to take up axle elasticity, and the elasticity will keep the serrations pressed into the dropouts.

A couple of years ago I bought a new e-bike. A couple of months later I gave it a lateral shove before mounting and discovered play on the front wheel. It had come with a hard stainless steel washer under the QR nut, which had worked loose because the serrations couldn't press into the dropout. No such washer belonged on that axle.

My fourth e-bike was my first with a front axle that simply screws in, which I much prefer.

Popular bikes such as RAD Power have returned to use solid axles with torqued nuts with drop-in washers in recessed slots in forks. The front wheel falling off is very bad.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I am actually hornswoggled that in 2024 they still sell bikes with QR skewers. And that folks buy them.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

I am actually hornswoggled that in 2024 they still sell bikes with QR skewers. And that folks buy them.

I've had bikes with QRs for at many decades and never had the first bit of trouble with them. They can be quite convenient if you need to transport your bike with the front wheel off, or for fixing a flat.

Maybe they shouldn't be allowed on kids' bikes or for people with little mechanical ability or common sense.

TT

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Maybe they should be allowed on kids' bikes or for people with little mechanical ability or common sense.

I think you meant shouldn't — in which case I totally agree!

Not sure how you'd test for common sense pre-purchase, but I am sure that the fail rate in my area would be pretty high. Many, many school kids released into the wild here on high-powered ebikes that any parent with a lick of common sense would've kept out of their hands.

Judging from the way these bikes are ridden, also little evidence that the parents have prepared little Johnny for responsible riding in public places.

Worse yet, when I see families riding together, it's not uncommon to see parents modeling bad riding for their kids — especially the dads. Zero common sense there.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

I think you meant shouldn't

Yes, thanks.

 

[m@Robertson]

This axle only fits certain hubs. Not for a Vado SL for sure (F: 12x110 mm front, R: 12x148 mm).

DT Swiss makes them in a wide variety of sizes. I have one for a 12x148 on the back of one of my Bullitts. It has about three threads sticking out the drive side. If anything I want it to have extra threads so it has some added fault tolerance built in. Getting a thru axle to fit that you have to source yourself also requires that you get the right thread pitch in addition to overall length, diameter, thread length etc.

you need this guy its easy to use the lever as a rachet.

You probably already know this but the DT Swiss lever on their thru axles is removable. It is a hex key when it is separated, which means you can also take it off and keep it off, and use an ordinary hex key in the lever's place.

How do you undo it?

When attached, it is spring-loaded on a ratchet mech inside of itself. So you pull up on it to disengage the ratchets, reposition it so you get good lever age and turn it to loosen. Then you repeat the process as much as needed. You could also just pull it off and use a long-handled hex key wrench for some serious leverage. Theoretically it is at risk to theft but its not much of a risk and you will lose nothing if its swiped thanks to the ability to use an ordinary hex wrench instead.

I recently added a PrestaCycle TorqRatchet to my bike kit, which I use for my T25 needs and hex keys where I can with the included bits. Its also a 3-12Nm beam-style torque wrench that seems to be quite accurate (compared it to my Wera 5-25Nm wrench and the two came out equivalent), and its really small. 12 Nm is enough to work on everything but a crank bolt, and its nice to not need to guess on torque roadside.

Thru axles are darn near the only thing I don't use a torque wrench on when it comes to a bike, where using a torque wrench keeps you from guessing or making the common stupid mistake of overtightening. (5-6 Nm on an M5 bolt is not a whole lot and a human will almost always screw that up). I get the axles pretty tight and leave them at that. The nature of a thru axle means it has to rotate a few times (which is visible via the lever long before it gets to a single rotation) to come loose and even then the axle is fully captured, unlike a QR skewer. I do make a point of checking them every month or two.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I've had bikes with QRs for at many decades and never had the first bit of trouble with them. They can be quite convenient if you need to transport your bike with the front wheel off, or for fixing a flat.

Maybe they shouldn't be allowed on kids' bikes or for people with little mechanical ability or common sense.

I'd modestly and respectfully disagree with your opinion.

QR skewers are fine for rim brake bikes. With disk brakes you need to have a good quality QR skewer in good working order and correctly designed dropouts. There were a lot of recalls in the past where companies like Trek and Giant screwed that up and produced dangerous bikes.

The time difference between removing a through-axle and a QR skewer is measured in seconds. Most of that time would be getting out your multi-tool or a 6mm hex key. If your through-axle is a fancy one you won't even need that.

It is impossible to install a through axle with the handle backwards where the handle gets caught in the disk brake rotor. Which was a catastrophic failure that can still happen with most disk brake and QR skewer configurations.

Through axles weigh and cost slightly more than QR skewers. But they also require basically no maintenance and servicing excepting greasing the axle every now and then. Through axles are also much stronger than a QR skewer and there are no moving parts that can fail.

It is impossible to install a through axle wrong. That means you can't get into that messed-up situation where the axle is slightly off and the disk brake rotor rubs on the brakes and the wheel possibly wobbles. And that can't happen because the skewer worked loose either.

Those might be low-probability events but I'd trade "low-probability" for "impossible" most days of the week.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

But they also require basically no maintenance and servicing excepting greasing the axle every now and then.

Why should you grease a part that is not rubbing against anything?

 

[Tars Tarkas]

I'd modestly and respectfully disagree with your opinion.

QR skewers are fine for rim brake bikes. With disk brakes you need to have a good quality QR skewer in good working order and correctly designed dropouts. There were a lot of recalls in the past where companies like Trek and Giant screwed that up and produced dangerous bikes.

The time difference between removing a through-axle and a QR skewer is measured in seconds. Most of that time would be getting out your multi-tool or a 6mm hex key. If your through-axle is a fancy one you won't even need that.

It is impossible to install a through axle with the handle backwards where the handle gets caught in the disk brake rotor. Which was a catastrophic failure that can still happen with most disk brake and QR skewer configurations.

Through axles weigh and cost slightly more than QR skewers. But they also require basically no maintenance and servicing excepting greasing the axle every now and then. Through axles are also much stronger than a QR skewer and there are no moving parts that can fail.

It is impossible to install a through axle wrong. That means you can't get into that messed-up situation where the axle is slightly off and the disk brake rotor rubs on the brakes and the wheel possibly wobbles. And that can't happen because the skewer worked loose either.

Those might be low-probability events but I'd trade "low-probability" for "impossible" most days of the week.

Good points, and I pretty much agree. Now that I think about it, most of my QR bikes have been with rim brakes. But anyway, it think they are generally okay for someone with experience and some intelligence. Maybe they should be optional on new bikes or even only available after-market.

Still, they have been good for me.

TT

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Why should you grease a part that is not rubbing against anything?

A through axle is definitely rubbing against something. Or maybe my bikes don't have whatever anti-gravity devices your bike might have.

Also, the bike mechanics I know tell me that you need to grease through axles. So I do and they work fine.

 

[spokewrench]

I don't know much about through axles, but I grease mine to prevent corrosion and be sure I can remove and replace it smoothly.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A through axle is definitely rubbing against something. Or maybe my bikes don't have whatever anti-gravity devices your bike might have.

Also, the bike mechanics I know tell me that you need to grease through axles. So I do and they work fine.

The thru-axle has only two attachment points: the thread in the opposing side of the fork and the socket in the entry side of fork. The axle is a non-rotating part. Its sole role is to squeeze the fork 'drop-outs' to the bearings that are built into the hub. It is the outer ring of bearing and the hub that are the rotating parts. There is a clearance between the thru-axle and the inner of the hub.

(The same applies for the rear triangle).

Such a design makes the bike less flexible, which is important for both MTB and e-bikes (high loads on the fork and rear triangle). The thru-axle design also ensures the brake rotor will remain in exactly the same position during the wheel replacement.

As a non-rotating part that does not rub against anything, the thru-axle does not need any grease unless a cosmetic effect is desired

What corrosion? Thru-axles are made from alloy that is rust-free.

 

[PedalUma]

One clear advantage of a through axle is that you never need to adjust the caliper after replacing the wheel.

 

[PCeBiker]

I am actually hornswoggled that in 2024 they still sell bikes with QR skewers. And that folks buy them.

I hate them. My first ebike came with a QR skewer on the front wheel.

I'm pretty sure most e-bikes less than about $2,000 came with the same QR skewers?

This is just SO WRONG !!!,..

About 3mm of hollow axle with threads cut into it, mounted only half way into soft alloy dropouts.
All for the convenience of not having to use a tool to get your wheel on and off.

I bought an old-school solid axle for a rear wheel that has the proper dropout spacing to replace it,..