BirdsBikeBinocs

I was in a bike shop yesterday looking at Cannondales and Trek's. I like both brands. Nice aluminum.

Looking at the Trek Checkpoint ALR 4, the rear wheel has an adjustable wheelbase. Are they reliable or a PIA.??

Once it's set do you get good alignment of the wheels, front and back.?? How long has this "technology" been on the market.?? Any known bugs with it.??

reptilezs

very reliable. used on the mtb models for many years

Bill in VA

Honest question. What is the actualy rationale for having an adjustable wheelbase?

I know we used to take the adjuster screw out of the old Campy dropout to pull the wheel all the way back, but I do not remember why we did it.

I am not familiar with MTB riding so I was just wondering. It does not look like that big an adjustment range. I am assuming it is for center of balance when climbing or descending.

cobba

clydeosaur

I bought a Trek Stache mountain bike last year and was a bit leary of these drop outs. That being said, I have not had one issue with them coming loose or causing problems. I do every once in a while make sure they are torqued to specs.Adjusting the wheelbase does make the bike more playful . However, it wasn't one of the features that sold me on getting the bike.

I am kind of surprised they put the feature on the ALR.

Litespud

fietsbob

Through axle is the latest thing for you millennials to buy. the engineers made the frame more versatile.. as the promotional video explains..

Bill in VA

Thanks Coppa, that was interesting. I can see the theoretical aspects of this, but .6" or 15mm seems pretty small. I also wonder with the often stated advantages of frame building with alloy and carbon fiber to control flex, if this is real world feel or academic for the average rider. I like how Trek also lets the disc caliper move. That was not usually an issue with rim brakes.

Having done the same thing with sliding horizontal dropouts and having owned bikes with both longer and shorter chainstays, I can really see the attraction, but wonder about the overall balance as longer chainstays usually come with more fork rake and different frame angles. For my current ride I went with a bike marketed at the time I bought it as a cross bike. I say this as it has also been marketed as a light touring and now as an allroad bike. But I wanted the shorter chainstays for climbing, and am very satisfied and find no downside. I did have to fine tune the cleat position to avoid slight toe overlap with the front wheel.

My problem is having adjustable chainstay length might rob you of an excuse to get a second bike.

I will say one thing, I have never had a wheel slip in a horizontal dropout with old school covered cam QR skewers (original Campy design) even when I weighed 40 pounds more than now and had a load or was on unpaved towpaths. Frame flex yes on the old bike, but never wheel movements in the dropouts.