When RockShox introduced their Torque Cap technology, the idea behind it was pretty simple. Increase the surface area of the connection between the hub and the fork dropout and you’re left with a stronger and stiffer junction of the two. However, that’s only true if you have a Torque Cap compatible hub. While you can still use any standard hub with a Torque Cap equipped fork, the locating shelf for the hub is designed with a larger diameter to work with the Torque Caps – which makes centering a standard wheel a bit harder.
For those of you who have your own hubs and don’t plan on swapping out to a Torque Cap hubset any time soon, Newmen Components out of Germany has an incredibly simple yet apparently effective solution.
By adding a small adhesive backed tab to each dropout, you essentially resize the dropout shelf for traditional hubs. This makes installing wheels (or installing the bike on a fork mount bike rack) simpler and easier. Now the hub end cap will rest on the shelf, allowing for perfect alignment of the thru axle without needing to hunt around for the correct position. And since they’re simply stick on pieces, you should be able to easily remove them should you find yourself in possession of a Torque Cap compatible hub.
In the U.S., these are available from Lindarets for $10 a pair. A small price to pay for a little more simplicity in your life.
