Originally Posted by
fronesis
First off, great pics – looks like a gorgeous ride!
As to your thru axles: you mention a “lock,” but I’m not exactly sure what you are referring to there. I have thru axles on a few bikes, and my understanding is that the threaded “bolt” of the thru axle simple threads into the bike frame directly, and it is held in place there by being at the correct torque spec. So it’s never really “locked” in place or “unlocked” it’s either tight enough at its proper torque spec, or it’s LOOSE.
A few thoughts there:
1. By “lock” I suspect you might be referring to the quick-release like “lever” on the standard DT Swiss thru axles that came with the whip shot. It’s possible that somehow that lever is vibrating loose and this would obviously lead directly to a loose axle.
2. I HATE those thru axles because they make it impossible to know if you have the torque spec correct and because the extra force added by the lever makes it hard to always return to the same torque (which effects the caliper/rotor centering). Accordingly, I sold thus “quick release” thru axles on eBay and replaced mine with some really nice Robert’s Axle project axles. These tighten with a 6mm hex, so you can use a torque wrench on them and get the proper torque.
3. Note: the torque spec on most 12mm thru axles is quite high, around 15Nm or 132inch-pounds. I have encountered a number of riders who had loose thru axles because they didn’t tighten them enough. And I made the same mistake myself on my first thru axle bike: what feels “pretty tight” by hand for me was only around 80 inch-pounds. To get to 130 inch-pounds requires some real force (I’m weak).
I dont totally follow your reasoning for not using the lever style. You mention this style makes it impossible to know if you have the torque spec correct, but unless you carry a 6mm hex torque wrench around with you, you often times wouldnt know what is correct spec for the Roberts Axle setup either.
Riders frequently have their wheels off-
- at home
- to transport to and from a ride point in vehicle
- flat tire change
Of those 3, i would say that the bottom 2 are the super majority of instances where a wheel is removed, and without carrying a torque wrench with you while riding, you wont know if the wheels are properly torqued until you get home to check. Anyone that has to pull their wheel off to load a bike into a vehicle will then be right back to not knowing if the torque is correct once they arrive at the start of their next ride.
Perhaps you ride with a torque wrench. Or perhaps you dont remove your wheel to transport and also rarely ever get flats(this applies to me, so i get it if you arent affected either).
I am just not sure how the lever style is a drawback for most riders when it comes to knowing the correct torque. They are in the same boat with either skewer once a wheel comes off.
disclosure- my only bike with TA is my MTB and it has the lever. It tightens thru screwing, then the lever hinges closed. Cant say I have ever thought twice about it, but i for sure will on my next ride!