The thing is that with Thru-Axle you have theads on the axle and on the frame as well. What happens when they get damaged somehow? With quick release that is another thing you do not have to worry about.
"Threads can vary from frame to frame" And there we have a loser of this battle. Why is there no standard for this like with normal axles. Everything should have standards for easy replacement parts because we live in a world where nothing lasts.
So they can restrict the flow of goods and increase the price they charge for them. But yes, we need standards. And I bought a carbon frame with a custom American BB in it, had to figure out how to revoke it without their special tool.
There's also a perfectly good system where you have a hex nut at each end of the axle and use a spanner. It adds the weight of a spanner to your bike, but as fewer thieves carry spanners, it reduces the risk of a wheel being stolen, and also means you can sometimes get away with a shorter lighter lock.
I was in the shop a few months ago, and I saw a Focus bike with their new interpretation of Thru-axle. It was similar to quick release in that you pull the lever, but then you turn it 1/2 turn, and slide the thru-axle out. Very fast, impossible to cross-thread, and quite sturdy.
Before the QR skewers on hollow axles, they used large wing-nuts. This isn't all that different in practice. At least with the large wing nuts, if you lost them, you could use a standard hexagonal nut and a spanner.
@@petedannatt It probably depends how close to red the color is, orange is probably pretty fast too. Blue isn't. Purple again would be faster than blue.
@@atnfn - Red is quite fast, but yellow can also be fast. Orange is done right can be fast but not as fast. I'd say blue is absolutely faster than purple, interestingly. Green would be similar to blue, maybe slightly faster.
It takes me like 10% of the time to put in my 15mm axle compared to my crap ass QR. You dont have to screw around with finding the perfect tension with a thru-axle, it just works and works the same every time.
You wouldn't have to screw around finding the right tension on QR's if it wasn't for the 'lawyer tabs' that they put on frames and forks. I have an old road bike and I love it for the absence of those tabs. I still haven't ground off the ones on my newer bike though 'cause it doesn't bother me that much.
I ride a cyclo cross bike with disc brakes and quick release. The wheel have NEVER been close to popping off. However the wheel is often skewed a tiny bit after riding and braking. This causes the discs to scratch against one side of the brakes... i.e. make the bike brake. Although it is easier to find wheel with QRs i would prefer the Thru-Axle today.
I'm pretty sure that the people who are incapable of safely securing a quick-release will be equally dangerous in charge of tightening up a thru-axle...
You can use a torque wrench on a KaBolt or Stealth Maxle style TA. What's the torque on my cup n cone with QR and flimsy 5mm skewer? Who knows? It's fiddly and garbage. Yeah, we've used it for decades, but that doesn't mean it's not trash. QRs belong in the bin, (Or on a vintage bike,) along with quill stems, inner tubes, taper cranks, and toe clips.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_stupid_question ....The truth is, it's the same kind of people who are to arrogant to ask a question... or act superior.....that end up screwing up the worst....
FYI quill stems, inner tubes, taper cranks, and toe clips all out lasted numerous fades... And still have some advantage.... So while the simplicity and advantages of a thru-axle is nice ... but they need to standardize them like they did with most vintage parts...
There's another system, seldom mentioned these days, where the ends of the axle are threaded, and you have a nut on each end. Works fine, and as most thieves don't carry spanners, it reduces the risk of wheel theft.
I have it. Good for commuter bikes, not very difficult to take the wheel off. I wonder why more bikes don't have it, actually. I mean how many cyclists need to take off their wheels every day or every week?
If there is a place to share my frustration it is here I believe. I just bought new forks (with 110mm booster spacing) which are through axle compatible. Now the pain of finding the right size conversion kit (as my wheels are quick release set up) is just unbelievable. Not to mention that after having spent money on upgrading my forks, now I must spend more money on the conversion kit and also the spacer kit to gap that 10mm booster spacing. If you ask me, the risk of the wheel falling out is insignificant. and there is a solution to it which I think would be quite logical. Check the hubs and axels before going on a big ride... Changing things on bikes to make them not compatible with older models and parts is a cheeky way of getting cyclists to spend a little more money. It is a rabbit hole I would prefer not to go down it, but once you upgrade one part, the domino effect starts. Keep in mind, I am not even mentioning the fact that in my head I am trying to not think about the fact that my nice wheels will not be the same. front will be through axle and the rear will be quick release. I am sure many wouldnt understand this but the thought just adds a slight bit more frustration into the mix. Sorry about ranting, hope some can relate and I am not the unreasonable weirdo, like the person who decided that even casual cyclists need through axle setups.... :)
Well done Si! You have addressed most of the disparaging comments about the scientific validity of your experiments, with your slip of the tongue at 6:23, by calling it "pseudo science". You did miss the biggest benefits of the through axle system, at least from Dan's Hack / Bodge of the week point of view: they work really well as integral chain keepers and, with a cut to length piece of PVC pipe, a really good dropout brace for travel.
Since my road bike is going to have rim brakes for the near future I will be sticking with quick releases. Disc brakes AND through axles are both heavier so until that changes I will stick with rim brakes.
disk brakes are easy to maintain i wish my road bike had them, as well as through axels if they are set up correctly they barelly squeel, and even though the pads are more expensive than the road ones if you use metalic ones they will last you longer thanthe normal rim brack ones on the wet at least a few youtube videos made me bleeding my brakes and have them the way a want it, you only need 10-15 minutes to have them ready for a long time
you should inspect your bike not every ride, but once in a while before you clean it, if the brake is leaking you can see it with the acumolation of dust, be it on a mtb or road bike. and also, you would start to feel the loss on power and should inspect it
if they were lx they were pretty old by now, and rubber don't las for ever but if some times tou take the pads and wheel, brake a bit so the piston comes off a bit(don't make it pop out of place, just a bit9 and push it in and repeat some times you are lubricating that surface, helping it to last longer and perform betther
I question how "foolproof" thru axles are. A while back I was loading my mountain bike onto my car after a ride and only then noticed my rear thru axle was hanging part way out of my frame. It had come completely unscrewed. Yes, I was lucky. I don't know how it happened but it must not have been tight to begin with. You can tell visually if a quick release is secured, but not necessarily a thru axle. I check before each ride now.
Nice video. Keep in mind that companies want to sell and by inventing new features that looks great they will keep on selling. another thing is, when you mounting the new thru-axel its scratches the aluminum surface of the frame and this can't be replaced, in all carbon frames it might be a bigger issue over time.
I did have an experience on my QR mtb. As I was in the middle of a climb the tension from the chain pulled the wheel out its seat and I had an extremely painful moment as I slid back down the climb. I don't worry about this ever happening on my newer thru-axle mtb.
My Focus Mares uses their R.A.T. thru axles which only take a quarter turn to release, which makes them just as fast as QRs. When in the market for a new roadbike I will go for QRs though, I don't really like discs (personal) but not being able to use my existings wheelsets, workshop stand and carrier make that a big no-no.
My Whyte G160 has a quick release thru-axle... the lever snapped due to overuse (the constant on and off that comes from taking the front wheel off to lie the bike in the back of the car) and it was an expensive nuisance to replace! But I did... cos I LOVE my bikes!
Can anyone suggest a particular dropout(s) that works: 1. On an aluminum e-bike frame 2. With a thru axle 3. And can be split to allow for Gates belt drive 4. With disc brakes ? Thanks
The slightest subject about bike make a lot of people share their experience and point of view.like this subject about QR and thru-A. I love that. I love this very interisting Channel. Cheers from France.😊
On a cross USA ride we had a rider who had her through axle work its way out and fall onto the road. Fortunately, a rider behind her saw it on the road and picked it up. And, also fortunately, she did not have a catastrophic event happen before we reunited the bike with the through axle.
That awkward moment when you're in a hurry and cross thread or damage the frame or thru-axle thread... Hopefully the end in the frame has a replaceable plug just for that reason. Also, I tend to remove my wheels a lot when I put my bike on my Park Tools stand, constantly winding them in and out can't be good for the aluminium thread in the long term.
Yeah, the potential damage to the frame dropouts might be a significant factor. Having replacement plugs, etc are solutions to problems that doesn't exist with QR. Can any MTBers who are using thru axles share your thoughts on this please.
Been using through axles for years on mtb's and never had any cross threading issues. Also, the threaded dropout is usually integrated into the mech hanger, so easily replaced if you somehow did damage it.
Through axles are very hard to cross thread because the use a rather course thread pitch. They also make bending a rotor during a wheel change a lot less likely
Not all wheel changes will be done in clean environments either. What about threading on a tire with a wet slightly dirty road? Fine rocks in the threads in a hurry, or in a rainy situation, or at night? Do the thru-axles have a lock washer or something to keep tension on it so it won't come loose?
Focus has the key design for Thru axles. It's called R.A.T. and it basically is an axle that you have turn a quarter stroke to take the axle out combined with a QR handle to achieve security
I have these on my gravel bike and love them. My only beef is how difficult it is to find the correct replacement left it on the bumper when I was invited to an after party that was to far to ride. It took me two weeks and two tries with the help of my local bike shop to get the right one.
Quick release was quick when the "nubs" were not there. The skewer lever can be properly and safely tucked very close to the fork or left rear chain stay. I don't see how to do this on through axles. Glad to hear you say that disk brakes are noisey, people that I ride the road with, have disks that make loud noises when wet, a problem.
If you want a tighter and stiffer quick release for your wheels, DT Swiss makes a quick release with a tightening cam system. I feel that the front end tracks better when rolling through big sweeping turns at 35 mph+
Once manufacturers figure out a standard to go by, it should. I'm hoping 12mm front and rear. Mountain bikers are probably laughing that we're having these debates.
Good point Calum. Marketing will make it impossible. Gravel/touring/endurance road are basically indistinguishable and very subtle differences (flat top tube, higher BB clearance, shorter chainstay) separate gravel from cyclocross.
We had the 'War of the wheel sizes' You roadies have the battle of the disc brakes and the thru axle offensive plus the tubeless tyre skirmish. keeps the comments sections busy. My favourite comments start something like: "Now, I've never used product A and don't intend to but because I've been a keen cyclist for years I don't feel the need to use it so I've taken time out to come onto this comments section and tell everyone it's rubbish and unnecessary and until Albert Einstein rises from the dead and personally tells me the scientific advantages of why I must use it I'll refute any explanations and accuse the advocates of having confirmation bias or being an industry shill"
Just bought a new MTB & the first thing I did was swap the 27.5" quick release wheels for my old custom built 26" wheels that I converted to solid nutted axles when they were new. I don't compete, just commute, so watch every new 'must have' innovation with amusement.
solid axles are the best way for frame stiffening. i've used all 3 ways, quick release-thru axles and bolt on wheels and the bolt on always felt much stronger and stiffer. I couldn't tell the difference between thru axle and quick release in terms of stiffness . But let's not forget that even downhill bikes used to have quick release.
@@user-du6op6qx5s People rode aggressively with QR for years. No one ever made a scene about it. I think it's funny how people will trash bikes now for not having a thru axle, like it's some absolute necessity that will destroy your life if you don't have it. Thru is nice, but it's a minor thing compared to other stuff.
I don't know if this has happened to anyone else but I was changing a flat on the side of the road once with a bike that had a QR and like an idiot, I loosened it too far to where the end cap fell off into the tall grass. I grew concerned as I looked and wasn't having any luck. I thought that I was going to have to call for a ride. Luckily, I finally ended up finding it. The benefit to a thru-axle is that it's one piece and a little bit harder to lose if you drop it.
Just bought a bike with through axles and I'm mostly affraid of them being a quick buck material for a thief. I can have a good u-lock, with line connecting saddle, front wheel and u-lock and still loose a sizeable ammount of cash by leaving a bike unattended. I really regreat that unfortunatelly they get damaged or lost and thus there is a market for them.
I like the fact that the rotors are always inline when you change wheels, but I find the front one does come loose after a 20 mile ride. Can you over tighten them ?
Thankyou on the advice for my 12 through axle.they are awsome.on my hardtail I had front QR20.SO TO FIND A BOLT AXLE WACKED IN I HAD TO SAVE THIS IDRIVE.GT RUCKUS..GOT THE AXLE AND NEW DERAILER HANGER.ALLS IN LINE.just the spacers now and I'm praying with a big set of bearings there will be no crap but joy...I've got a new hub just in case..can't mess around much more winters coming and snowmen calling..
I never understood the argument that a QR can sometimes sit incorrectly when replacing the wheel! You just need to make sure it's sitting at the cutout in the frame and that's it! Certainly never had disc rub due to that. What I would say is on my MTB with QR, when riding on streets and cornering at speed, the QR axel bends slightly and causes disc rub. But nothing dramatic and only under that specific stress. Overall I'm happy with either.
There are tolerances in the QR skewer mechanism that are simply too high for disc brakes. Because of that, majority of DB bikes with QR will require caliper adjustment after re-inserting the wheel. It depends both on the frame as well as on the QR skewer itself. QR is old tech not designed with disc brakes in mind, and we should not be seeing any bikes with disc brakes using them by now. I'd never get a bike, be it MTB, gravel or road, with disc brakes and QR skewers.
I had a quick release bent in air transport (bike wouldn't fit the box with the wheel in). Put it in anyway and rode with it the entire vacation. It is now ten years and much abuse later still and working. I guess they are plenty safe.
No Thanks - on my TT bike with horizontal dropouts, you can't tune how far the tire will be from the frame - in competion i use aero quick release (the track version), while in training i use standard quick releases. offcourse there can be thru-axles made which are more aero - it won't work on my Tacx indoor trainer - ok, they say it is stiffer, but by how much - as a weight-weenie, they say it is heavier (how much?) But... as mentioned in the video: for the majority it could be usefull
I actually have a Diamondback Century 1 alloy bike, it comes with a Shimano thru-axle quick release combo, I don't know if you've seen any one of those, but it is a thru-axle that has quick release lever on the end
Just swapped in my bike with discs and through axels. Ok I miss the crisp braking, but it is nice to have a lighter bike with more choice of wheels I can swap between all my bikes and I can now put my new bike on my turbo! Maybe in 2-3 years time will go back, but think I got my disc bike to early into the tech.
I changed my 29er XC's rear QR to a thru-axle some time ago. It's still a drop out so it won't solve user errors and probably the alignment problem is still there but otherwise I'm really happy with the conversion.
Bought a set of fat bike wheels and, despite what you say, I can use the thru axle on the front wheel. or a quick release with the included adapters. Perfect since I have 2 fat bikes. One with quick release and one with thru axle.
I was a SAG vehicle this weekend at the Hilly Hundred and this is the first year I ran into thru axle bicycles and guess what, I could not use my trusty old Thule roof racks to rack the bicycles. I had to resort to hanging the bikes on my rear rack that I thankfully also have. What a pain in the rear, and I now will have to figure out what kind of adapters, etc. I need to buy to allow racking bicycles on my good old Thule roof racks that have quick release mechanisms. I also don't like the idea of having threads as part of the frame, as that's just one more thing for someone to screw up, but that's off topic from my above comment (maybe).
Quick releases used to be quick, then some moron started marketing light-weight, cheaply made exposed-cam skewers as an "upgrade", only for them to be so terrible that forks then needed tabs on the end to keep the wheels a bit more secure, resulting in not so quick releases. An enclosed cam skewer on a correctly made frame should require no adjustment of the nut at the opposite end.
My cheap exposed cam skewer was literally pulling out of the dropouts when I pedaled hard, no matter how tight I closed the cam. Enclosed cam skewer fixed the issue 100%.
My front wheel has fallen off once, resulting in me hitting my head and shoulder on the ground. Luckily, the car behind me stopped. Always a good idea to regularly check the tightness of the axles but looking forward to this.
Thats something is wondered about as well. Instead of building 5 kilo bikes and then glueing useless weight on it they could use that "free" weight and do something useful with it.
I had problems with the front wheel on my MTB with quick release being dislocated when braking hard. Not to the point where the wheel would come off, but enough to affect the wheel alignment. My current bike has thru axle, and I for one am not going back!
quick releases have been around over 80 years?? Im 30 and all my bikes growing up and those crappy 12mm axels or whatever D: I got my first road bike in 2018 and it has a quick release and itt feels like alien tech to me.
This was not an equivalent test as the thru axle bike had discs while the qr bike did not. This forces an extra alignment "step" in the wheel fitting process. You can see this in the video when the first wheel is effectively thrown in the rear triangle while the second has the disc more carefully inserted into the caliper.
I just purchased a Specialized with the thru-axel and it is fine, but the downside I observed is that I can no longer pull my Bob Trailer as they only use the quick release.
Another problem for through axles: Most turbo trainers clamp the bike between the ends of the (specific) quick release axle. With through axles you would need some kind of adapter if even possible
Thru axles are ace, I have the old 20mm non screw in type and it's still really easy to swap a wheel fast. The other advantage I've noticed is the bearings spin freer as you can have larger bearing sizes and the way the bearing cartridge is held is better.
Si, I'm surprised you didn't remember or reference your Taipei bike show experience with the Topeak Ninja stuff in relation to another positive for thru-axles. Well, the Ninja line might not have a storage solution for thru-axles but Industry Nine's MatchStix do. Apparently, the MatchStix manage to stuff a 10 function multi-tool into this space!
I have a new bike with disc brakes and Thru-Axles. Flash! This winter, how will I mount it in my mag trainer? Ah! Any ideas. GCN should do an episode about this.
I personally don't get how a through axel is stiffer. The axel of a QR hub is actually quite beefy. No weight is supported by the QR skewer at all. The skewer is only under tension. The notion that they tie fork legs together is also false. suspension forks are tied together at the top in all cases. Only benefit is maybe better alignment but that is only true for the rear wheel and only if the dropout is horizontally oriented.
I just bought a specialized fatboy with a through axel and it doesn't have that quick release looking nut on it.looks like I have to tighten it with an Allen key
My gravel bike has Thru-Axle with Disc brake. And I totally understand that Thru-Axle is much thicker, stronger , and stable than Quick Release skewers for riding rough road. But Quick Release skewers is strong enough for road bike with rim brake. And no matter what kind of bicycle, if brake is Disc brake, it should with Thru-Axle. Because disc brake is very close with disc and disc brake pad than rim brake. So it must need much strong stability.
If people are worried about the quick wheel changes, suntour and focus do a version that are very quick to take out and require no screwing in, there is a vid out there of the focus team changing a rear wheel in the UCI World Cup cross country race in about 15 seconds
Focus and Merida now have a quick release through axle. Also with the through axle there is no axle in the wheel so isn't the weight similar to the quick release which does have the axle through the wheel.
@ my last ride, i damaged the fixing points on dropouts with QR (at rear)... thing was on a downhill... My friends ride QR too (on their bikes), but they have a suspension fork, i was on a rigid...
My son races XC, lost his front axle out of his Fox fork. Here, a new quick release is 900 Baht. A new screw axle for his Fox is unavailable here, had to order it from overseas, total cost 6,000 Baht.....And if you think screw in axles are foolproof, wait until you cross-thread one into your fork dropout; total cost there for replacement is a new fork
I've never used thru-axles, but I'm not convinced some of the supposed advantages are there at all. Once a QR is done up, the hub forms the cross member for the forks/rear triangle. The only way the stiffness would be increased is if the hub/frame interface was flexing, or it was rubbing. I've never seen any evidence of rubbing, and any flex at that point would be minimal. Maybe on a MTB, that's not an area I've had much experience in, but I'm very skeptical if there was any measurable difference for road bikes. One thing we're definitely seeing more of, and is out of control in the MTB sector, are dubious claims for improvement that are actually attempts to create a demand for a new product. The number of wheel sizes alone in MTB is absurd. Having flogged that horse to death, now it's axles!
The very thin steel axle of a qr flexes and stretches as forces are acting upon it. Hence that's why discs rub when climbing out of the saddle. The thin steel rod is stretching. Titanium qr skewers are even worse!
That doesn't make any sense at all. The thin rod doesn't actually carry a load and is under tension. It's sole purpose is to compress the forks/rear triangle against the axle flange. However let's just say it did "stretch", then either the dropouts would rub, or the whole hub would be flexing! I've never seen evidence of either. BTW I generally use titanium skewers. What I've seen a concerning amount of in the past few years in the industry is an increasing amount of outright bullshit by companies, sewing the seeds in public forums, and then letting social media do the rest. I'd like to see some solid FEA examples from independent engineers on how thru axles increase rear triangle stiffness over a correctly tensioned conventional QR.
I don't think anyone or any evidence is going to convince you that through axles make for a stiffer frame/hub interface than traditional qrs. But I know that climbing out of the saddle on a disc equipped road bike and qrs, you will hear disc rub. With a through axle equipped bike there is no disc rubbing. My conclusion is that the through axle makes for a stiffer frame/hub interface. If you saw my road bike you would have a heart attack. I have discs, through axles and tubeless tyres.
Not true, I've already said what would convince me that thru-axles are stiffer ie any credible engineering evidence to support that claim. With all due respect, even the example you've provided is complete nonsense. You're free to conclude whatever you like, but I would suggest it's a bizarre conclusion. You ride completely different bikes, one happens to be fitted with with QR, another with thru-axles. The first rubs, the second doesn't. From that you concluded it was the axle interface that made the difference? Has it occurred to you that the frame with the thru-axles may be torsionally stiffer due to the actual design and/or construction? If the two bikes were otherwise identical it would be another matter entirely. If I were designing a bike that needed to be torsionally as stiff as possible I too would probably use thru-axles on it. Not because it's better from an engineering perspective, but because that's what the marketing department will want to see in order to flog the bike to easily influenced punters! I still haven't seen one iota of credible evidence to suggest that thru-axles are in any way superior to a traditional QR that's used properly. In recent years the Bottom Bracket situation has become plain idiotic, all based on very dubious claims of performance improvements. Here we go again with axles. We've gone from a situation where we had established standards for most components, to a situation already where it's spiralling out of control and the bike industry will implode if this keeps up! Your precious thru-axles? Guess what, no standard. Absolutely none. Not even an established diameter! You lose that axle and you're SOL. Buy another one from, wait for it, the manufacturer who produced the bike. You couldn't write this stuff! No I wouldn't have a fit if I saw your bike. If that's what floats your boat and you're riding it a lot, all the power to you.
+Pete F It was the same bike. I have interchangeable dropouts and interchangeable hub ends. I had to run standard qr on the rear while I waited for my 12mm turbo trainer axle to arrive. Definitely more flex on the qr rear over the 12mm through axle rear.
Perfect alignment every time is probably the best selling point for me
for me is the rigid interface, no more flexing flork or flexing stays
The thing is that with Thru-Axle you have theads on the axle and on the frame as well. What happens when they get damaged somehow? With quick release that is another thing you do not have to worry about.
"Threads can vary from frame to frame" And there we have a loser of this battle. Why is there no standard for this like with normal axles. Everything should have standards for easy replacement parts because we live in a world where nothing lasts.
Bike manufacturers get to choose for themselves what to ship their frames with...there inlays the potential.
So they can restrict the flow of goods and increase the price they charge for them. But yes, we need standards. And I bought a carbon frame with a custom American BB in it, had to figure out how to revoke it without their special tool.
Apple is writing...
I build my mountain bikes, and this stuff infuriates me.
There's also a perfectly good system where you have a hex nut at each end of the axle and use a spanner. It adds the weight of a spanner to your bike, but as fewer thieves carry spanners, it reduces the risk of a wheel being stolen, and also means you can sometimes get away with a shorter lighter lock.
it is also makes the bike by far, way more stiff from thru axles and qr. Really, it is the best system to secure your wheel.
"fool proof"... you underestimate the ingenuity of a fool
+1
haha. . . that's gotta be the comment of the week!
Because adding a plus 1 alone, is not good enough
screw in too tight and damage fork threads
Looks like it would be difficult to do with such a big and deep TPI. Would not think a racer would use though.
I was in the shop a few months ago, and I saw a Focus bike with their new interpretation of Thru-axle. It was similar to quick release in that you pull the lever, but then you turn it 1/2 turn, and slide the thru-axle out. Very fast, impossible to cross-thread, and quite sturdy.
Because my experiences in other totally different activities, I'm worried of threads gone flat or damaged. It happens, you only don't know when.
Before the QR skewers on hollow axles, they used large wing-nuts. This isn't all that different in practice. At least with the large wing nuts, if you lost them, you could use a standard hexagonal nut and a spanner.
Wing nuts,....that was long, long ago and far away....
Do a test to find out if red bikes are really faster
Why do we need a test when it's obvious they are!? Might be interesting to test all the colors and see if any others can get close to red.
@@petedannatt It probably depends how close to red the color is, orange is probably pretty fast too. Blue isn't. Purple again would be faster than blue.
@MegaMrblackguy HAHAHAHAHA ONE IS FAST TO UR ASS💀💀
Peter Sagan don't use red
@@atnfn - Red is quite fast, but yellow can also be fast. Orange is done right can be fast but not as fast.
I'd say blue is absolutely faster than purple, interestingly.
Green would be similar to blue, maybe slightly faster.
It takes me like 10% of the time to put in my 15mm axle compared to my crap ass QR. You dont have to screw around with finding the perfect tension with a thru-axle, it just works and works the same every time.
You wouldn't have to screw around finding the right tension on QR's if it wasn't for the 'lawyer tabs' that they put on frames and forks. I have an old road bike and I love it for the absence of those tabs. I still haven't ground off the ones on my newer bike though 'cause it doesn't bother me that much.
I call BS. I had trouble with QR tension in the 80s before lawyer tabs. A cam has it's advantages, but it's fiddly.
Modern quick releases are fine. Just file off lawyer tabs. Old 80s and 90s based on the campy design were hard to get adjusted right.
0:52 Si, pretty sharp reflexes there, mate!
I ride a cyclo cross bike with disc brakes and quick release. The wheel have NEVER been close to popping off.
However the wheel is often skewed a tiny bit after riding and braking. This causes the discs to scratch against one side of the brakes... i.e. make the bike brake.
Although it is easier to find wheel with QRs i would prefer the Thru-Axle today.
I'm pretty sure that the people who are incapable of safely securing a quick-release will be equally dangerous in charge of tightening up a thru-axle...
You can use a torque wrench on a KaBolt or Stealth Maxle style TA. What's the torque on my cup n cone with QR and flimsy 5mm skewer? Who knows? It's fiddly and garbage. Yeah, we've used it for decades, but that doesn't mean it's not trash. QRs belong in the bin, (Or on a vintage bike,) along with quill stems, inner tubes, taper cranks, and toe clips.
For sure, it's the same kind of people who ask if unscrew is clockwise or counter-clockwise
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_stupid_question ....The truth is, it's the same kind of people who are to arrogant to ask a question... or act superior.....that end up screwing up the worst....
FYI quill stems, inner tubes, taper cranks, and toe clips all out lasted numerous fades... And still have some advantage.... So while the simplicity and advantages of a thru-axle is nice ... but they need to standardize them like they did with most vintage parts...
@@nc3826 omg wikipedia... really 🤣😅 !!??
There's another system, seldom mentioned these days, where the ends of the axle are threaded, and you have a nut on each end. Works fine, and as most thieves don't carry spanners, it reduces the risk of wheel theft.
True. That's an important point you raised.....
I have it. Good for commuter bikes, not very difficult to take the wheel off. I wonder why more bikes don't have it, actually. I mean how many cyclists need to take off their wheels every day or every week?
normie x You’d need to carry a wrench around everywhere in case you get a punctute
Now we know the right way handling the quick release helps a lot thank YOU😃
If there is a place to share my frustration it is here I believe.
I just bought new forks (with 110mm booster spacing) which are through axle compatible. Now the pain of finding the right size conversion kit (as my wheels are quick release set up) is just unbelievable. Not to mention that after having spent money on upgrading my forks, now I must spend more money on the conversion kit and also the spacer kit to gap that 10mm booster spacing.
If you ask me, the risk of the wheel falling out is insignificant. and there is a solution to it which I think would be quite logical. Check the hubs and axels before going on a big ride...
Changing things on bikes to make them not compatible with older models and parts is a cheeky way of getting cyclists to spend a little more money. It is a rabbit hole I would prefer not to go down it, but once you upgrade one part, the domino effect starts. Keep in mind, I am not even mentioning the fact that in my head I am trying to not think about the fact that my nice wheels will not be the same. front will be through axle and the rear will be quick release. I am sure many wouldnt understand this but the thought just adds a slight bit more frustration into the mix.
Sorry about ranting, hope some can relate and I am not the unreasonable weirdo, like the person who decided that even casual cyclists need through axle setups.... :)
"talked about by people for whom it doesn't actually matter how quickly you can change a wheel" :) haha, so true.
Well done Si! You have addressed most of the disparaging comments about the scientific validity of your experiments, with your slip of the tongue at 6:23, by calling it "pseudo science".
You did miss the biggest benefits of the through axle system, at least from Dan's Hack / Bodge of the week point of view: they work really well as integral chain keepers and, with a cut to length piece of PVC pipe, a really good dropout brace for travel.
Loved it! "if 100 grams is going to upset your riding experience, well then your crazy"I laughed so hard! that was beautiful. thank u.
Since my road bike is going to have rim brakes for the near future I will be sticking with quick releases. Disc brakes AND through axles are both heavier so until that changes I will stick with rim brakes.
+Tom you must do discs wrong. There's no reason for discs to squeal plus the pads are the same price as rim brake pads but last longer!
disk brakes are easy to maintain
i wish my road bike had them, as well as through axels
if they are set up correctly they barelly squeel, and even though the pads are more expensive than the road ones if you use metalic ones they will last you longer thanthe normal rim brack ones on the wet at least
a few youtube videos made me bleeding my brakes and have them the way a want it, you only need 10-15 minutes to have them ready for a long time
+adidas_tracksuit I call bullshit. Must have been an avid brake
you should inspect your bike not every ride, but once in a while before you clean it, if the brake is leaking you can see it with the acumolation of dust, be it on a mtb or road bike. and also, you would start to feel the loss on power and should inspect it
if they were lx they were pretty old by now, and rubber don't las for ever
but if some times tou take the pads and wheel, brake a bit so the piston comes off a bit(don't make it pop out of place, just a bit9 and push it in and repeat some times you are lubricating that surface, helping it to last longer and perform betther
I question how "foolproof" thru axles are. A while back I was loading my mountain bike onto my car after a ride and only then noticed my rear thru axle was hanging part way out of my frame. It had come completely unscrewed. Yes, I was lucky.
I don't know how it happened but it must not have been tight to begin with. You can tell visually if a quick release is secured, but not necessarily a thru axle. I check before each ride now.
You should always check your wheels are secured before each ride, regardless of thru axle or quick release
What rack do u have for your car? I have a Subi
Even in 2022, my new bike went from a tight thru axle to one completely unscrewed and only engaged on one side in just 20 minutes of riding.
Am I the only one that noticed the enhanced video quality in this one? 50 FPS looks mighty good, GCN! Love it! :)
Most of that extra time was taken up aligning the disc, so it was a test between disc v. rim rather than axles.
Nice video.
Keep in mind that companies want to sell and by inventing new features that looks great they will keep on selling.
another thing is, when you mounting the new thru-axel its scratches the aluminum surface of the frame and this can't be replaced, in all carbon frames it might be a bigger issue over time.
I did have an experience on my QR mtb.
As I was in the middle of a climb the tension from the chain pulled the wheel out its seat and I had an extremely painful moment as I slid back down the climb. I don't worry about this ever happening on my newer thru-axle mtb.
Watching you change the wheel....made me feel completely inadequate! brilliant!
My Focus Mares uses their R.A.T. thru axles which only take a quarter turn to release, which makes them just as fast as QRs.
When in the market for a new roadbike I will go for QRs though, I don't really like discs (personal) but not being able to use my existings wheelsets, workshop stand and carrier make that a big no-no.
My Whyte G160 has a quick release thru-axle... the lever snapped due to overuse (the constant on and off that comes from taking the front wheel off to lie the bike in the back of the car) and it was an expensive nuisance to replace! But I did... cos I LOVE my bikes!
I' m new to cycling and I would love to have thru-axle on my specialized diverge.
Can anyone suggest a particular dropout(s) that works:
1. On an aluminum e-bike frame
2. With a thru axle
3. And can be split to allow for Gates belt drive
4. With disc brakes
?
Thanks
I'm happily commuting on my late '80s mountain bike, it is dawning on my that I might not be the target market.
The slightest subject about bike make a lot of people share their experience and point of view.like this subject about QR and thru-A. I love that. I love this very interisting Channel. Cheers from France.😊
Thank you! I'll keep my quick release in my mtb
On a cross USA ride we had a rider who had her through axle work its way out and fall onto the road. Fortunately, a rider behind her saw it on the road and picked it up. And, also fortunately, she did not have a catastrophic event happen before we reunited the bike with the through axle.
That awkward moment when you're in a hurry and cross thread or damage the frame or thru-axle thread... Hopefully the end in the frame has a replaceable plug just for that reason. Also, I tend to remove my wheels a lot when I put my bike on my Park Tools stand, constantly winding them in and out can't be good for the aluminium thread in the long term.
Yeah, the potential damage to the frame dropouts might be a significant factor. Having replacement plugs, etc are solutions to problems that doesn't exist with QR. Can any MTBers who are using thru axles share your thoughts on this please.
Been using through axles for years on mtb's and never had any cross threading issues. Also, the threaded dropout is usually integrated into the mech hanger, so easily replaced if you somehow did damage it.
Through axles are very hard to cross thread because the use a rather course thread pitch. They also make bending a rotor during a wheel change a lot less likely
Never cross threaded a TA, its a coarse thread and the alignment required to do so would mean your hub would be on some funky angle to begin with
Not all wheel changes will be done in clean environments either. What about threading on a tire with a wet slightly dirty road? Fine rocks in the threads in a hurry, or in a rainy situation, or at night? Do the thru-axles have a lock washer or something to keep tension on it so it won't come loose?
My bike has a through axle. Only thing I miss is being able to put it on my trainer.
Prob with Q Release is people put either too much load on the lever during tightening or not enough thus ruining the bearings hub race.
World tour ready or not, that was a fine piece of wheel swapping Si.
look at Focus RAT. Moreover my wheels never get out without lousing the QR after openning. Then I have to retight it before closing
The RAT is so good
ever see how fast techs swap wheels in an XCO race? and alignment is always perfect
Focus has the key design for Thru axles. It's called R.A.T. and it basically is an axle that you have turn a quarter stroke to take the axle out combined with a QR handle to achieve security
I have these on my gravel bike and love them. My only beef is how difficult it is to find the correct replacement left it on the bumper when I was invited to an after party that was to far to ride. It took me two weeks and two tries with the help of my local bike shop to get the right one.
Quick release was quick when the "nubs" were not there. The skewer lever can be properly and safely tucked very close to the fork or left rear chain stay.
I don't see how to do this on through axles. Glad to hear you say that disk brakes are noisey, people that I ride the road with, have disks that make loud noises when wet, a problem.
I am just waiting on the industry to figure out a standard so I can buy my next bike.
You risk To wait a long time..
If you want a tighter and stiffer quick release for your wheels, DT Swiss makes a quick release with a tightening cam system. I feel that the front end tracks better when rolling through big sweeping turns at 35 mph+
Once manufacturers figure out a standard to go by, it should. I'm hoping 12mm front and rear. Mountain bikers are probably laughing that we're having these debates.
That depends if you can distract them from debating wheel sizes or not.
We will never stop debating wheel sizes
Good point Calum. Marketing will make it impossible. Gravel/touring/endurance road are basically indistinguishable and very subtle differences (flat top tube, higher BB clearance, shorter chainstay) separate gravel from cyclocross.
Gravel bikes are what's hurting any axle standardization for road bikes, because every manufacturers thinks they know best.
We had the 'War of the wheel sizes' You roadies have the battle of the disc brakes and the thru axle offensive plus the tubeless tyre skirmish. keeps the comments sections busy. My favourite comments start something like: "Now, I've never used product A and don't intend to but because I've been a keen cyclist for years I don't feel the need to use it so I've taken time out to come onto this comments section and tell everyone it's rubbish and unnecessary and until Albert Einstein rises from the dead and personally tells me the scientific advantages of why I must use it I'll refute any explanations and accuse the advocates of having confirmation bias or being an industry shill"
It's so solid and can make for wider hub standards increasing wheel stiffness,efficiency and making a more secure fastening mechanism.
Just bought a new MTB & the first thing I did was swap the 27.5" quick release wheels for my old custom built 26" wheels that I converted to solid nutted axles when they were new. I don't compete, just commute, so watch every new 'must have' innovation with amusement.
solid axles are the best way for frame stiffening. i've used all 3 ways, quick release-thru axles and bolt on wheels and the bolt on always felt much stronger and stiffer. I couldn't tell the difference between thru axle and quick release in terms of stiffness . But let's not forget that even downhill bikes used to have quick release.
@@user-du6op6qx5s People rode aggressively with QR for years. No one ever made a scene about it. I think it's funny how people will trash bikes now for not having a thru axle, like it's some absolute necessity that will destroy your life if you don't have it. Thru is nice, but it's a minor thing compared to other stuff.
I don't know if this has happened to anyone else but I was changing a flat on the side of the road once with a bike that had a QR and like an idiot, I loosened it too far to where the end cap fell off into the tall grass. I grew concerned as I looked and wasn't having any luck. I thought that I was going to have to call for a ride. Luckily, I finally ended up finding it. The benefit to a thru-axle is that it's one piece and a little bit harder to lose if you drop it.
Just bought a bike with through axles and I'm mostly affraid of them being a quick buck material for a thief. I can have a good u-lock, with line connecting saddle, front wheel and u-lock and still loose a sizeable ammount of cash by leaving a bike unattended. I really regreat that unfortunatelly they get damaged or lost and thus there is a market for them.
I like the fact that the rotors are always inline when you change wheels, but I find the front one does come loose after a 20 mile ride. Can you over tighten them ?
A possible solution for this could be to wrap a bit of plumber's PTFE tape on the thread.
Thankyou on the advice for my 12 through axle.they are awsome.on my hardtail I had front QR20.SO TO FIND A BOLT AXLE WACKED IN I HAD TO SAVE THIS IDRIVE.GT RUCKUS..GOT THE AXLE AND NEW DERAILER HANGER.ALLS IN LINE.just the spacers now and I'm praying with a big set of bearings there will be no crap but joy...I've got a new hub just in case..can't mess around much more winters coming and snowmen calling..
Good video, gotta love the 11 second wheel change
My last two bikes came with thru axles….so in 2021 you were right that it is the future with bikes.
I never understood the argument that a QR can sometimes sit incorrectly when replacing the wheel! You just need to make sure it's sitting at the cutout in the frame and that's it! Certainly never had disc rub due to that.
What I would say is on my MTB with QR, when riding on streets and cornering at speed, the QR axel bends slightly and causes disc rub. But nothing dramatic and only under that specific stress. Overall I'm happy with either.
There are tolerances in the QR skewer mechanism that are simply too high for disc brakes. Because of that, majority of DB bikes with QR will require caliper adjustment after re-inserting the wheel. It depends both on the frame as well as on the QR skewer itself.
QR is old tech not designed with disc brakes in mind, and we should not be seeing any bikes with disc brakes using them by now. I'd never get a bike, be it MTB, gravel or road, with disc brakes and QR skewers.
I had a quick release bent in air transport (bike wouldn't fit the box with the wheel in). Put it in anyway and rode with it the entire vacation. It is now ten years and much abuse later still and working. I guess they are plenty safe.
I've never had any trouble with quick release axels, no need to use thru-axle.
Thru-Axles originate with motorcycles, not mtbs. There is older simple solution without Thru-Axle ... That is just ... Nuts
No Thanks
- on my TT bike with horizontal dropouts, you can't tune how far the tire will be from the frame
- in competion i use aero quick release (the track version), while in training i use standard quick releases. offcourse there can be thru-axles made which are more aero
- it won't work on my Tacx indoor trainer
- ok, they say it is stiffer, but by how much
- as a weight-weenie, they say it is heavier (how much?)
But...
as mentioned in the video: for the majority it could be usefull
I actually have a Diamondback Century 1 alloy bike, it comes with a Shimano thru-axle quick release combo, I don't know if you've seen any one of those, but it is a thru-axle that has quick release lever on the end
Just swapped in my bike with discs and through axels. Ok I miss the crisp braking, but it is nice to have a lighter bike with more choice of wheels I can swap between all my bikes and I can now put my new bike on my turbo! Maybe in 2-3 years time will go back, but think I got my disc bike to early into the tech.
I changed my 29er XC's rear QR to a thru-axle some time ago. It's still a drop out so it won't solve user errors and probably the alignment problem is still there but otherwise I'm really happy with the conversion.
Bought a set of fat bike wheels and, despite what you say, I can use the thru axle on the front wheel. or a quick release with the included adapters. Perfect since I have 2 fat bikes. One with quick release and one with thru axle.
With all due respect to the other guys, I enjoy Simon's videos the most. He's does the best job of explaining things and getting his point across.
I was a SAG vehicle this weekend at the Hilly Hundred and this is the first year I ran into thru axle bicycles and guess what, I could not use my trusty old Thule roof racks to rack the bicycles. I had to resort to hanging the bikes on my rear rack that I thankfully also have. What a pain in the rear, and I now will have to figure out what kind of adapters, etc. I need to buy to allow racking bicycles on my good old Thule roof racks that have quick release mechanisms. I also don't like the idea of having threads as part of the frame, as that's just one more thing for someone to screw up, but that's off topic from my above comment (maybe).
Quick releases used to be quick, then some moron started marketing light-weight, cheaply made exposed-cam skewers as an "upgrade", only for them to be so terrible that forks then needed tabs on the end to keep the wheels a bit more secure, resulting in not so quick releases. An enclosed cam skewer on a correctly made frame should require no adjustment of the nut at the opposite end.
Never have issues with cam skewers. What was the issue
My cheap exposed cam skewer was literally pulling out of the dropouts when I pedaled hard, no matter how tight I closed the cam. Enclosed cam skewer fixed the issue 100%.
My front wheel has fallen off once, resulting in me hitting my head and shoulder on the ground. Luckily, the car behind me stopped. Always a good idea to regularly check the tightness of the axles but looking forward to this.
the UCI makes a lot of teams add weights to their bikes so thru axles would be good for racing
Lower centre of gravity too.
Calum Spencer true
Thats something is wondered about as well. Instead of building 5 kilo bikes and then glueing useless weight on it they could use that "free" weight and do something useful with it.
yeah
Awesome! I was looking at a gravel bike online and trying to figure out what a thru axle was.
I had problems with the front wheel on my MTB with quick release being dislocated when braking hard. Not to the point where the wheel would come off, but enough to affect the wheel alignment. My current bike has thru axle, and I for one am not going back!
Indeed. The thru axle is long overdue. QR's scare me.
Well they are good for mtbs and when crashing. So i'il give you that.
here is an issue I see right off the top with through axles. how do you secure it to your indoor trainer?
Good point!
+Global Cycling Network That has been made and answered quite a few times, just spend a few days reading all the comments...
Each brand has their own through axle adapter
you don't. the point of a disc brake bike is that you can ride it all year long. just go outside
I live in Canada. Good luck with that!
As a mountain biker with disc brakes, they were a game changer
Absolutely!
That 13 seconds could be real life or death if being chased by a bear down a mountain whilst also carrying a fully assembled spare wheel 😂..
Awesome video covering this topic that got me scratching my head!
If only I had this at the cyclocross nationals last year when my rear wheel fell out as I set of at the start, last place and embarrasing af! 😳
Yes, but a thru axle eliminates rider error.
+Ian Loughead thats why I said "if only I had it" as that would have meant my wheel would not have fallen out as it was rider error ;)
That must have been hilarious to watch, though.
I can testify to point on discs and the lack of rubbing with thru axle. Rubbing of discs was always one of the irritating factors of using discs.
quick releases have been around over 80 years?? Im 30 and all my bikes growing up and those crappy 12mm axels or whatever D: I got my first road bike in 2018 and it has a quick release and itt feels like alien tech to me.
This was not an equivalent test as the thru axle bike had discs while the qr bike did not. This forces an extra alignment "step" in the wheel fitting process. You can see this in the video when the first wheel is effectively thrown in the rear triangle while the second has the disc more carefully inserted into the caliper.
I just purchased a Specialized with the thru-axel and it is fine, but the downside I observed is that I can no longer pull my Bob Trailer as they only use the quick release.
Another problem for through axles: Most turbo trainers clamp the bike between the ends of the (specific) quick release axle. With through axles you would need some kind of adapter if even possible
Google Thru Axle Trainer Adapters
Thru axles are ace, I have the old 20mm non screw in type and it's still really easy to swap a wheel fast. The other advantage I've noticed is the bearings spin freer as you can have larger bearing sizes and the way the bearing cartridge is held is better.
QR on the back and QLoc on the front. Works for me.
Foolproof sounds like a challenge to me!
Does the weight difference take into account the weight of the axle through which a regular QR goes through?
It's about the same as the actual axle the so-called through-axle goes through.
Si, I'm surprised you didn't remember or reference your Taipei bike show experience with the Topeak Ninja stuff in relation to another positive for thru-axles. Well, the Ninja line might not have a storage solution for thru-axles but Industry Nine's MatchStix do. Apparently, the MatchStix manage to stuff a 10 function multi-tool into this space!
It's 2018 and my Specialized Crosstrail with hydraulic disc brakes came with quick release.
I have a new bike with disc brakes and Thru-Axles. Flash! This winter, how will I mount it in my mag trainer? Ah! Any ideas. GCN should do an episode about this.
I personally don't get how a through axel is stiffer. The axel of a QR hub is actually quite beefy. No weight is supported by the QR skewer at all. The skewer is only under tension. The notion that they tie fork legs together is also false. suspension forks are tied together at the top in all cases. Only benefit is maybe better alignment but that is only true for the rear wheel and only if the dropout is horizontally oriented.
Do the same test on the front wheel, it will be about the same time, as the qr forks have little bits that stick out the bottom
You can file of the lawyers' lips!
And invalidate the warranty... thanks chief.
I just bought a specialized fatboy with a through axel and it doesn't have that quick release looking nut on it.looks like I have to tighten it with an Allen key
So the guy that lost his axle is telling us that they're fool-proof. Interesting.
Whats "interesting", a troll will never admit to being the true fool in the room... But we all know it's the case....
My gravel bike has Thru-Axle with Disc brake. And I totally understand that Thru-Axle is much thicker, stronger , and stable than Quick Release skewers for riding rough road. But Quick Release skewers is strong enough for road bike with rim brake. And no matter what kind of bicycle, if brake is Disc brake, it should with Thru-Axle. Because disc brake is very close with disc and disc brake pad than rim brake. So it must need much strong stability.
If people are worried about the quick wheel changes, suntour and focus do a version that are very quick to take out and require no screwing in, there is a vid out there of the focus team changing a rear wheel in the UCI World Cup cross country race in about 15 seconds
Focus and Merida now have a quick release through axle. Also with the through axle there is no axle in the wheel so isn't the weight similar to the quick release which does have the axle through the wheel.
0:04 was just watching another GCN video that stated that in fact, the quick release was NOT invented by Campagnolo...
Can tru-axles be cross thredded? No issue with quick release.
I had no issue with quick release since 2000 where I started to use bikes on weekends !
@ my last ride, i damaged the fixing points on dropouts with QR (at rear)...
thing was on a downhill... My friends ride QR too (on their bikes), but they have a suspension fork, i was on a rigid...
My son races XC, lost his front axle out of his Fox fork. Here, a new quick release is 900 Baht. A new screw axle for his Fox is unavailable here, had to order it from overseas, total cost 6,000 Baht.....And if you think screw in axles are foolproof, wait until you cross-thread one into your fork dropout; total cost there for replacement is a new fork
I've never used thru-axles, but I'm not convinced some of the supposed advantages are there at all. Once a QR is done up, the hub forms the cross member for the forks/rear triangle. The only way the stiffness would be increased is if the hub/frame interface was flexing, or it was rubbing. I've never seen any evidence of rubbing, and any flex at that point would be minimal. Maybe on a MTB, that's not an area I've had much experience in, but I'm very skeptical if there was any measurable difference for road bikes.
One thing we're definitely seeing more of, and is out of control in the MTB sector, are dubious claims for improvement that are actually attempts to create a demand for a new product. The number of wheel sizes alone in MTB is absurd. Having flogged that horse to death, now it's axles!
The very thin steel axle of a qr flexes and stretches as forces are acting upon it. Hence that's why discs rub when climbing out of the saddle. The thin steel rod is stretching. Titanium qr skewers are even worse!
That doesn't make any sense at all. The thin rod doesn't actually carry a load and is under tension. It's sole purpose is to compress the forks/rear triangle against the axle flange. However let's just say it did "stretch", then either the dropouts would rub, or the whole hub would be flexing! I've never seen evidence of either. BTW I generally use titanium skewers.
What I've seen a concerning amount of in the past few years in the industry is an increasing amount of outright bullshit by companies, sewing the seeds in public forums, and then letting social media do the rest. I'd like to see some solid FEA examples from independent engineers on how thru axles increase rear triangle stiffness over a correctly tensioned conventional QR.
I don't think anyone or any evidence is going to convince you that through axles make for a stiffer frame/hub interface than traditional qrs. But I know that climbing out of the saddle on a disc equipped road bike and qrs, you will hear disc rub. With a through axle equipped bike there is no disc rubbing. My conclusion is that the through axle makes for a stiffer frame/hub interface. If you saw my road bike you would have a heart attack. I have discs, through axles and tubeless tyres.
Not true, I've already said what would convince me that thru-axles are stiffer ie any credible engineering evidence to support that claim.
With all due respect, even the example you've provided is complete nonsense. You're free to conclude whatever you like, but I would suggest it's a bizarre conclusion. You ride completely different bikes, one happens to be fitted with with QR, another with thru-axles. The first rubs, the second doesn't. From that you concluded it was the axle interface that made the difference? Has it occurred to you that the frame with the thru-axles may be torsionally stiffer due to the actual design and/or construction? If the two bikes were otherwise identical it would be another matter entirely. If I were designing a bike that needed to be torsionally as stiff as possible I too would probably use thru-axles on it. Not because it's better from an engineering perspective, but because that's what the marketing department will want to see in order to flog the bike to easily influenced punters!
I still haven't seen one iota of credible evidence to suggest that thru-axles are in any way superior to a traditional QR that's used properly. In recent years the Bottom Bracket situation has become plain idiotic, all based on very dubious claims of performance improvements. Here we go again with axles. We've gone from a situation where we had established standards for most components, to a situation already where it's spiralling out of control and the bike industry will implode if this keeps up! Your precious thru-axles? Guess what, no standard. Absolutely none. Not even an established diameter! You lose that axle and you're SOL. Buy another one from, wait for it, the manufacturer who produced the bike. You couldn't write this stuff!
No I wouldn't have a fit if I saw your bike. If that's what floats your boat and you're riding it a lot, all the power to you.
+Pete F It was the same bike. I have interchangeable dropouts and interchangeable hub ends. I had to run standard qr on the rear while I waited for my 12mm turbo trainer axle to arrive. Definitely more flex on the qr rear over the 12mm through axle rear.
Focus Rapid Axle Tech is a nice middle ground. Just as fast as QR. Good compromise for 'cross.
Excellent video as usual. Clear and thorough. Thank you.