bikebikebike

This is probably necro as hell, but to be honest I couldn't find any information on the topic.

A friend had a hub fail and I started rethinking a lot of my assumptions, and this was one.

As I use more IGH I am reassessing my use of bolt on axles. I know with the new Thru-Axle tech that this is even more archaic , but still interesting.

Bolt ons were the hallmark for a while of cheap bikes, and this skewed (sorry) the attitude towards the bikes they were on and prolly prejudiced them towards failure/ out of spec, as they were possibly low end and price sensitive items.

Yes , QR are easier to swap, but if I need to change a tire, I need tools and a pump, so a dogbone or other light wrench isn't hard to toss in, and I may have IGH that need a wrench, anyway.

Bolt ons are not as purdy, but is there much weight differential, and bearing issues in the non race world?

I understand that cargo bikes and fixies also have a preference for bolt ons, but are they just sort of farkle, like reduced spoke hubs? with 32 spokes and a solid axle being stronger, without much of a weight penalty.

I don't have any weight comparisons, if that is felt to add to the issue, but low and central non revolving weight is probably a factor that doesn't detract much for bolt ons.

I was looking at some hubs that may have a longer life , being left as they are.

Thanks

noglider 

As you are noticing, a lot of this is a matter of style or preference rather than real difference. I prefer quick release but so what. And it's not practical for every type of hub, certainly IGH. Needing one fewer tool is definitely nice but not a deal breaker.

Quick release hubs are not less durable however.

Andrew R Stewart 

I don't know how many customers I've had that wanted the same as they were waiting for the service estimate for their "I haven't had to do anything to my bike for years what happened to cause this now". All products need attention. The better made stuff perhaps feels better all the time but that isn't a substitute for neglect.

Having said that as a pro shop guy I have gotten tired of servicing my personal bikes any more then I have to. So for hubs I have chosen Phil Wood. Sure not light weight or mega engagement points sexy. Just well made and easy to replace their parts as needed, which is not often to say the least. Still like any component they like attention every so often. Andy

bikeaddiction1

Bolt-ons are harder to steal.

JanMM

Unless Mr.Thief has a wrench.

bikeaddiction1

Those guys mostly go for the low hanging fruit. Things that come off easy, or with a bolt cutter or battery powered angle grinder. Typically a nut on the axle takes longer and usually is not worth as much.

balrog687

I have a hope pro evo 2 bolt on hub, my surly ogre have horizontal dropouts, so it's better for me, it's a really high quality hub.

Andrew R Stewart 

Horizontal drop outs have been used with QR axles for many decades with no problems. What has changed this recently is the poor QR skewers that are too common. The exposed cam design with the cam riding on a plastic seating piece has less clamping capacity. The enclosed cam designs are better at holding the wheel in place, regardless of the drop out type.

It's my opinion that the whole nutted axle on the fancy bikes (trendy single speeds as an example) comes from believing that what a track racer is required to use by rules is also the best for the streets. Track racing has required a nutted axle more due to entanglements with another bike while competing, nuts have no hand lever sticking out acting like a claw. To further drive home the point of what's good for the racer is always best for the streets is that on the track if you stop you loose the race. So the need for the axle to repeatedly resist the forces of a skid stop is pretty much a non issue. However on the streets this stopping by using the pedals happens many times a day. This is why my fixed gear bike has rim brakes too, on both wheels. Andy

Wilfred Laurier

It is a myth that solid axles are stronger than QR axles - maybe a bare QR axle, but once the skewer is installed it replaces any strength lost by having a hollow axle. That's what they teach you in materials class when studying to be an engineer, anyways.

QR axles also have the benefit of being held together by the skewer in the unlikely event of axle breakage. The hub isn't going to perform very well, but you can continue to ride to safety or a repair shop. I had the faxle break on my c. 1991 Shimano 105 front hub a couple years ago. I didn't even notice until I remove the wheels to change tires.

Darth Lefty 

What's not strong is a 7-speed freewheel hub on 135 spacing, as commonly found on those extra-cheap bikes.

Wilfred Laurier

A few months ago while helping a buddy with a customer's bike with an 8 speed freewheel, we realized it had no splines or other features to allow removal or servicing of the hub.

Trakhak

I lost a Campy Record tubular track wheel by following that reasoning.

Andrew R Stewart 

Story- I owned a bike shop in Cleveland for 15 years, about a mile from Case Western Reserve University. needless to say I was the "college" bike shop and had many student and staff as customers. One Spring day a customer came in with a bike missing it's front wheel, the wheel hadn't been locked and was swiped. We talked about bike theft and locking one's bike (that campus was the shopping mall for the local thieves). He mentioned that the replacement wheel/tire/tube was his cost of a education in the school of hard knocks. he also mentioned that he could have just waited for the owner of the front wheel that was still locked to the bike rack only a few feet from his bike. We joked about which owner would get the other's part(s) and become whole and which would suffer the complete loss Obviously a thief had found one bike that had only the front wheel locked and a nearby bike whose ft wheel wasn't locked and "made a bike" to steal. Andy

bikeaddiction1

You are not going to stop a determined thief, even with the best lock. My son had his bike stolen when the thieves smashed his buddies Jeep window to get it, parked on a street in Vancouver.