The Robert Axle Project has a new tool developed with framebuilder Chris McGovern to make cleaning your bike easier – the Drive Thru dummy hub roller. It’s not the first roller we’ve seen to mimic a hub and allow us to spin the chain with the rear wheel off, but the affordable DriveThru is unique in letting you shift through the full range of your rear derailleur to make it easier to get in to clean every nook and cranny.
Robert Axle Project Drive Thru dummy hub, thru-axle roller pulley
Having just cleaned caked mud out of the cage & hollow pulleys on my gravel bike rear derailleur, through the spokes of my rear wheel of course, I can fully see the merits of using the Drive Thru. I’ve tried a basic chain keeper that let me spin the cranks with the derailleur in the position of the smallest/hardest cog, but it didn’t really help access into the derailleur’s parallelogram or allow much space into the pulley cage. Sure, the McGovern-designed Drive Thru won’t increase chain tension like climbing the larger cogs of a cassette, but it surely will make it easier to get at a grimy rear derailleur.
Drive Thru – Tech Details
The secret of the Drive Thru is simplicity, taking advantage of the ease of setup that bolt-on thru-axles allow. The 62g device is just a short section of 12mm alloy thru-axle with a knurled hand knob on one end and one of four common thread pitches on the other end – with tapered, lead-in threading to make for a quick install.
It is available in standard 1.0, 1.5 & 1.75mm thread pitches, plus the special 1.0 double lead-in threading specific to Mavic Speed Release. Then, a machined Delrin (engineered plastic) pulley slides over the short axle with an O-ring keeping it from falling off, thus retaining and allowing your chain to spin smoothly as you turn the cranks.
As you shift back and forth, the derailleur is free to move in and out, with the Delrin pulley sliding in and out on the axle to keep aligned with the derailleur pulleys.
Robert Axle Project Drive Thru – Pricing & availability
The Drive Thru is available direct from The Robert Axle Project for a surprisingly affordable $35 in any one of four thread pitches. A shop mechanic bundle of all three standard threadings is also sold for $70, sharing a single pulley.
Tool-free, the Drive Thru should speed up regular cleaning & maintenance of your derailleur. And it would also make cleaning, degreasing & re-lubing your chain a less messy job, keeping all the grime that coming off your chain, out of your cassette.
