Thru axles

[davidc1]

Simple question. I hope. I've a new mtb and the rear axle has a thru axle. It seems the key size is a 6mm allen. Is this size a universal size for all thru axles? Thanks.

[PushedDover]

I dont believe so. My Cube has different front and Back.

[JEA1K]

davidc1 said:

Simple question. I hope. I've a new mtb and the rear axle has a thru axle. It seems the key size is a 6mm allen. Is this size a universal size for all thru axles? Thanks.

6mm is pretty much the standard ... I have 2 x Treks & 2 x Cervelo's, all are 6mm.

[SoliD]

Most are 6mm, but my Giant road bike has 5mm.

[leyorkie]

6 mm front5 mm back on my Cannondale Habit

[thekingisdead]

5mm on my gravel, 6mm on my road, 6mm on my mtb.

Mixing front to rear is insane! The design engineer should be shot :-)

[Gary29]

Just don't drive 2 hours to a downhill park with your bike in the boot and leave the through axles on the floor in the garage exactly where you removed the wheels to aid transportation.

[PushedDover]

Gary29 said:

Just don't drive 2 hours to a downhill park with your bike in the boot and leave the through axles on the floor in the garage exactly where you removed the wheels to aid transportation.

Ouch. that would frustrate a tad.

[POIDH]

Gary29 said:

Just don't drive 2 hours to a downhill park with your bike in the boot and leave the through axles on the floor in the garage exactly where you removed the wheels to aid transportation.

Why would you put nicely greased axles on the floor? Axle out, wheel out, axle back in while still holding the wheel....

[Pablo16v]

Gary29 said:

Just don't drive 2 hours to a downhill park with your bike in the boot and leave the through axles on the floor in the garage exactly where you removed the wheels to aid transportation.

Or drive to Wales from Aberdeenshire then realise your MTB wheels are still back at the house

Not me, but thankfully my pal managed to borrow a pair of wheels from a bike shop.

[Benson11]

One of these is a handy addition to save messing with allen keys:

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/components/wheel-acc...

Alternatively you can get a whole axle from the likes of DT swiss etc with the lever included

[mattvanders]

I think I have had even 8mm on some of my mountain bikes, there’s no set standard. Fork manufacturing companies aren’t the same as frame manufacturing and the needs are completely different. I’ve had 9mm qr, 12 qr, 12 bolts and 15mm pinch bolt design forks before

[TGCOTF-dewey]

Benson11 said:

One of these is a handy addition to save messing with allen keys:

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/components/wheel-acc...

Alternatively you can get a whole axle from the likes of DT swiss etc with the lever included

"Giant Removable Thru-Axle Lever for use with Giant removable thru-axles"

[Gin and Ultrasonic]

TGCOTF-dewey said:

Benson11 said:

One of these is a handy addition to save messing with allen keys:

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/components/wheel-acc...

Alternatively you can get a whole axle from the likes of DT swiss etc with the lever included

"Giant Removable Thru-Axle Lever for use with Giant removable thru-axles"

These are great and give a surprising amount of leverage. I probably wouldn't put them on a mountain bike while riding though - I lost my road bike one on a mildly bumpy descent !

[GravelBen]

Pablo16v said:

Gary29 said:

Just don't drive 2 hours to a downhill park with your bike in the boot and leave the through axles on the floor in the garage exactly where you removed the wheels to aid transportation.

Or drive to Wales from Aberdeenshire then realise your MTB wheels are still back at the house

Not me, but thankfully my pal managed to borrow a pair of wheels from a bike shop.

Not quite that bad but I had a mate drive ~3 hours to a MTB park with a borrowed bike, and somehow didn't notice until he got there that the bike had SPD pedals on it and he didn't have SPD shoes... fortunately I had an extra set of flat pedals in my spares box so the problem was solved.

[GravelBen]

Gin and Ultrasonic said:

These are great and give a surprising amount of leverage. I probably wouldn't put them on a mountain bike while riding though - I lost my road bike one on a mildly bumpy descent !

My Merida Big Trail has a similar setup, it's designed to stay in place and has never come loose in ~4 years of MTBing.

[Benson11]

Gin and Ultrasonic said:

These are great and give a surprising amount of leverage. I probably wouldn't put them on a mountain bike while riding though - I lost my road bike one on a mildly bumpy descent !

I run them on all my bikes and have never lost one riding off road around peak district with big descents etc. The length of the lever is designed short on purpose to prevent over tightening, the torque spec is normally printed on the axle and is pretty low anyway