In a land of every increasing industry ‘standards’, Hexlox HexThru is a solution to bring us back interchangeability – “One Thru Axle To Rule Them All”. Their new, patented Perfect Fit modular HexThru-axles claim to fit every modern thru-axle on the market with 3 HexThru axle sizes – Front 15, Front 12 & Rear. Plus of course, they build in compatibility with Hexlox’s optional locking security nuts.
Hexlox Perfect Fit modular thru-axles
I feel like every different bike I’ve ridden in the last year has had a different thru-axle solution. And while that’s fine if you are happy with your stock setup, I’ve ridden a number of nice bikes where the QR thru-axle function was lacking. That’s both affordable bikes with chunky, sloppy QRs and super high-end bikes with almost unusable ultralight QR axles. And none of those work on an indoor trainer, or (gasp!) with any form of trailer attached.
Tech Details
So that’s where Hexlox’s new Perfect Fit axles come in. The modular design works with any 12mm front, 15mm front, or 12mm rear axle setup. The variable length of the split design should work with everything from road bikes to wide fat bikes, while maintaining full axle diameter at the dropout & hub bearing contact points at the outer axle edges.
Then interchangeable threads are said to make it work with all of the different systems out there. We’re not 100% sure there, but it looks at least like a single thread insert can include two different thread pitches. And presumably these will be offered in the few thread varieties for each front & rear axle setup. Rest assured, we’ll get the full lowdown at Eurobike, and we already have a set of test axles on order that should be in the shop within a week or two.
Putting the ends together the length is said to “intuitively adjust to perfectly fit your bike dropout width via a telescopic 2 phase thread”. It will be a set it once and then function normally like a bolt-on axle after the first setup.
Besides the universal fit, the HexThru axles also make your thru-axle bike compatible with stationary trainers thanks to the conical steel head on the end of the aluminum axle body. That alone is enough of a reason for me to want some of these, as I can only fit my older quick release axle bikes to the trainer now. And with that also comes bike trailer towing capability. My Chariot travels less with me now that my kids prefer to pedal, but that was a limitation on family trips for us for several years.
The new HexThru Axles will be available from October 2018 for 45€ per axle. At the same time, Hexlox will also be making an outwardly similar looking, simple bolt-on thru-axle solution for OEMs that can also fit their Hexlox anti-theft security devices.
