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Help Thru Axel vs Quick Release

Tanki

Maximum Pace
Aug 7, 2014
205
126
Opinions and insight please.
I have just be on to Wiggle regarding a prospective purchase and received the following answer that has left me non-the-wiser. I asked if the Verenti Substance was Thru axel or QR as I was concerned about potential problems with disc brake alignment if I was removing the front wheel repeatedly for train travel.


Hello Jo,

Thank you for your email.

I have had a look into your query for you and would advise that the bike will come with QR as standard on the wheels. This should make it easier for you and your road trips. I hope this helps.

Thank you.



Regards


King L


Wiggle Customer Services
 
The bike has QR. I see no reason to expect problems with your disk brake alignment after taking the wheel off and putting it back on. I would recommend that you carry a spacer to put between the pads while in transit. Maybe a fork spacer too, if you handle your bike roughly.
 
Had two bikes with disk/QR. As @Half-Fast Mike says, no issues with them and taking the wheel on/off many times. Easier than Rim brakes most of the time (just don't squeeze the brake with no wheel there).

Thru axle just reduces the twisting effect on the fork from the wheel under high sideways load. On a road bike you don't see that a lot unless you like pedalling standing up and throwing the bike about while doing it - you occasionally get the disc touching the pad in those circumstances. If you were a sprinter getting a disc bike I would say get thru axle or climber pushing out 300W+ consistently or are @D'Pioneer (who never lets a part on his bike squeak, rattle or sound more than twice), then otherwise I would be perfectly happy with QR
 
I have both on my MTBs. Neither affects disc alignment.
I personally like thru axles better because there is no spring or end cap (only thing I imagine is better for road).

On a suspension fork, the thru axles helps the handling departments a bit, but not enough I would run out and replace a fork to "upgrade"
 
I will run QR on my new disc road bike as Enve's road disc fork is QR. However, as a kind of a half way solution, there is a very highly thought of skewer from DT Swiss (recommended by one of, in my view, the best bike mechanics in Tokyo) which kind of combines QR and thru axle (https://www.dtswiss.com/Components/rws/rws-Road-steel).

I probably would have gone thru axle if I'd have had a choice but I wouldn't be too fussed either way.
 
I will run QR on my new disc road bike as Enve's road disc fork is QR. However, as a kind of a half way solution, there is a very highly thought of skewer from DT Swiss (recommended by one of, in my view, the best bike mechanics in Tokyo) which kind of combines QR and thru axle (https://www.dtswiss.com/Components/rws/rws-Road-steel).

I probably would have gone thru axle if I'd have had a choice but I wouldn't be too fussed either way.

How does that kind of combine a QR and Thru axle?
 
It literally is just a QR system. It doesn't use a lever-over cam, like most QR levers do, that is the only difference. It is not a hybrid with a Thru Axle system in any way.
Which is why he said "kind of" combines QR and thru-axle. Let's not be pedantic here. If it is 50% stronger than regular QR, like DT Swiss claim, that can't be a bad thing, can it?
 
LOL. He needs to lower his 'kind of' to 'doesn't at all'. It is just a QR lever with a different lever movement to activate the cam.

We are discussing engineering here; it is absolutely the place to be 'pedantic' (translation; thorough and accurate). :)

And 50% stronger than a regular QR. They don't state that. They say it has 'up to' 50% more clamping force than a regular QR. That is a weird thing to claim as well; I can make my current QR lever clamp with 50% more force by just screwing the end nut in a few more turns, and giving myself a bruise on my palm when closing it... Also, why do you need to maximise QR clamping force? Beyond a certain point the drops will just deform, etc. Has anyone had a wheel slipping in the drops since 1998, due to not being able to get the QR tight enough?

Etc etc.
 
@D'Pioneer , as @leicaman correctly presupposes, it is supposedly (from what I read and from what I am told), a lot stronger and more secure than a regular QR.

Of course it is not a thru axle; my point was that it kind of combines elements/positive attributes of both, as opposed to being literally something other than a QR.

I will bow to your superior mechanical mind, as always, should I be wrong once I have real life experience of utilising the product. However, my statement was based on objective reading and the experience of others, including a very skilled team mechanic whose opinion I greatly value and, whilst perhaps poorly worded (despite using "kind of" twice), was innocently stated.
 
D@mn they are expensive - cheapest I can see is $35 (25 GBP) per one skewer so $70 for the pair. If they get down below $40 for a pair I might give them a try just to see if I can feel any difference.
 
D@mn they are expensive - cheapest I can see is $35 (25 GBP) per one skewer so $70 for the pair. If they get down below $40 for a pair I might give them a try just to see if I can feel any difference.
$70 doesn't sound that expensive to me. Don't think I'll bother getting a set though. I've never had a problem with regular QR, although I don't ride disks.
 
D@mn they are expensive - cheapest I can see is $35 (25 GBP) per one skewer so $70 for the pair. If they get down below $40 for a pair I might give them a try just to see if I can feel any difference.

If you can feel any difference I will pay the balance for you.

You are not allowed to lie about feeling the difference obviously.
 
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