EB15: Tune reinvents road thru axle, makes lots more stuff better & lighter

“the molasses-like process of unthreading a thru axle”
Gimme a break.

So, Tune has essentially brought Sr Suntour’s MTB QR to the road bikes…

The best thing about QR is they are universal. I realize people are trying to make money off a patent, but the frame specific nature of many of these TA’s is annoying to say the least. And yes, I have no idea how Campagnolo protected what was their original, frame specific design years ago…the irony is not lost.

Not sure I’d want to sit on something that looks like it’s labelled as a reAmer: i.e. a tool for widening or finishing holes. Otherwise, looks good!

If it really takes you that long to unthread a thru-axle, you should probably be having your LBS change flats for you. Can we cool it on the proprietary S****Storm already?

As a serious question, what are the real world advantages of thru axles on a road bike? I have 2 hydraulic disc road/gravel/cross bikes, both with QR, and have not found any instability under any riding braking conditions (including some ripping mountain gran fondos). Could someone who has used both QR and TA on a road or cross bike explain the advantage?

JHTFC. I thought I was going to post a simple comment on the axle system. Instead i’m going to have to comment on comments first.

@JG – Personally, I have had every disc brake combined with a non-TA i’ve ever ridden loosen itself at some point. That includes wheels secured with DTS’ RWS system. In a QR or RWS system, the retention is dependent on clamping, which is subject to failure through vibrations. Take a look at some promo videos for the Nord lock washer system. They’ve got all manner of locking nuts spinning right off under vibration. The reaction force to applying any front brake is OUT of the fork. That’s not a fail safe condition. GOOD thru axles divide retention and clamping into two devices. The wheel is retained by the pawls, but clamped by the QR in this case. If it fails, you get a wheel that knocks around until you stop, but won’t come out.

@DailyNEWStandards – I feel you on BR’s verbiage, but unthreading a TA is monumentally slow compared to the speeds pro tour techs can swap wheels.

@Luiggi – My first thought, too. Something to consider if you’ve not used SR Suntour’s Q-Loc; the pawls hang up all the way through the wheel. It isn’t actually fast.

@rexated – like the X-Bone, the re4mer is pronounced reamer now, and there’s nothing the manufacturer can do about it.

So ANYWAY. The Q-Loc is very finicky about keeping those pawls retracted, and it has a mechanism to do that. The pawls drag along the inside of the axle, and you’ve got to basically slide hammer the axle out of the wheel. Suck. This axle doesn’t have any provision to keep the pawls retracted. Good luck! Secondly, the pawls don’t look like they’re going to handle mushrooming from people setting the QR too tightly very well. Once they mushroom, GL getting the axle out without cutting it.

All in all, the axle looks like a good prototype. I’d like to use it a bit.

You know what would be great? A thru axle that didn’t have any dangly bits to snag and that didn’t enable toolless removal of the wheel for easy theft. You know…the kind of product that everyone NOT racing should prefer. QR is an abomination, let’s not try to hard to make thru axle just like it. Cycling should not be held hostage by a handful of elite riders.

I think all that needs to be standard are the hub shell width and axle diameter. With this it doesn’t really matter how the TA is held place. Case in point I have an old Manitou 20 mm TA fork and a newer Rockshox 20 mm TA fork. The manitou has 2 bolts on each side and a center screw in, where as the RS has a Maxle. But I can move wheels between the two forks, and both are considered 20 mm TA standard. Thus as long as the forks and frames I have come with their respective TAs that’s cool. You can’t swap TAs between different systems, but you can still swap wheels.

Side loading bottle cages are without a doubt, one of the most simple and brilliant, modifications……especially if they have a good entry level price point, look badass, and then have a carbon offering…..

@Dave, are your handlebars behind you when you’re riding a motorcycle? Disc calipers are rarely, if not ever, mounted on the front of the fork. And motos use thru axles.

I don’t understand the hate for QR’s. They have served us well enough for many decades, and continue to be at least adequate for around 90% of hobby riders. Clearly TA’s have advantages and will one day completely displace QR’s on serious bikes, but I don’t see how a QR is an “abomination” for anything but heavy and/ or aggressive riders doing DH, freeride, slalom, etc., or perhaps a few road riders using discs and descending long, steep roads. I’ve never seen a QR vibrate open; it’s never happened to me or anyone I know.

Eric, thanks for the response. I have about 5k miles on my SRAM Force Hydro Rs, and 1300 miles on my Shimano Hydraulic Road brakes, both QR, and haven’t ever experienced loosening. I do notice that the DT Swiss Ratchet system seems to feel more “solid”, in my subjective evaluation. Is there a certain type of riding that seems to precipitate the loosening?

John