quick releases have been around for over
80 years
they are invented by none other than a
mr. Campanella and it is an inspired
design open to misuse but when operated
correctly they will safely and securely
attach your wheels to your bike except
that mountain bikers have taken things
in a different direction this is a
through axle and the reason it matters
to you and I now is because this is
probably going to be the future for road
bikes and the way it works is it bolts
through your frame then through your
wheel and then threads directly in to
the other side of your frame it means
that your dropouts on your frame of
forks are going to be significantly
different a quick release will
definitely not work in a through axle
frame or vice versa and the hub's on
your wheels will also be significantly
different although many discs specific
wheels now will be interchangeable
between the two simply by swapping out
your end caps right seems I've just said
that quick-release is a great one earth
is the point in this well firstly
security quick releases are open to
error either by doing them up too
tightly not tight enough or indeed not
doing them up at all but the bike
industry has been dealing with the
fallout from quick-release misuse for
years
so what's undoubtedly the catalyst in
assuring in through axles on road bikes
is disparate because this brakes put
extra stresses on the drop out extra
stresses that could potentially in
extreme cases caused the quick-release
to loosen and then for the front wheel
to pop out it is extremely rare but
nevertheless the threat does exist
however with true axles there is no such
problem now that should probably be
reason enough for through axles to usher
in at the end of quick releases on road
bikes but there are other advantages as
well through axles are much much stiffer
and that's actually the real reason why
they're invented on mountain bikes in
the first place because they were
designed to bind together the ends of
primitive long travel and very flex
easing Forks in the late 90s what does
it mean for your rigid road forks though
well stiffness is still a good thing
your bike should track better through
corners at least in theory and also your
Forks we might better place to handle
the torsion coming off
your dis caliber those two things you
may well not notice out in the road but
one thing that you would is silence you
see this brace when paired with quick
releases are sometimes prone to rubbing
and making little noises whereas through
axles stop that because every time you
replace your wheel it is aligned in
exactly the same position as the
previous time and also that stiffness
we've just talked about also prevents
any kind of twisting and caliper right
there this is a versus video so there
have to be some downsides to through
axles right well yes there are they're
heavier for a start through axles on a
bike we probably add about hundred grams
over a quick release version and then
there is of course the fact that they
are not as quick as a quick release at
removing wheels now this is much much
talked about a lot of time of fact by
people for whom I'm sure it doesn't
actually matter how quickly you can't
change a wheel but nevertheless it is
sometimes important so just how much
slower is a through axle wheel to
replace reading the stopwatch three two
one go steady not too bad not world tour
worthy but you know okay through axle
three two one
I wasn't too bad too bad anyway finally
there is one other issue that isn't
often talked about but has tripped up
one or two people that I never and that
is what happens if you lose your
thru-axle because it can be a real to
find a replacement and that's because
the exact length of a through axle can
vary from frame to frame so if you do
lose one then tracking down a
replacement for a road bike is really
tough because there just aren't that
many around now of course you shouldn't
ever actually lose your through axle as
soon as you remove your wheel you store
the threats all back in the frame that
way it's always there when you need it
but okay I'm talking about me I lost it
through Axel and I lost an entire days
worth of riding trying to track down
replace a day instead of riding I spent
driving around the country trying to
secure said replacement it was horrific
okay quick release verses that relax on
well if you can honestly hold your hand
up and say that the speed of your wheel
changes will affect your quality of life
then fair enough
quick releases are faster if you can
honestly say that hundred grams is going
to affect your enjoyment of cycling but
I question your sanity but fair enough
quick releases are definitely lighter
and if weight really is your bag anyway
then the chances are you're not going to
be all that interested in disparate and
the truth of the matter is that there is
nothing really wrong with quick releases
they are plenty safe and secure enough
for general riding when used correctly
but the fact remains that through axles
are more secure they're foolproof and
they're stiffer and so there's no real
reason why actually the majority of us
aren't actually going to be better off
with through axles on our bikes perhaps
most important of all though is that
bike companies think that through axles
are better so the chances are if you're
in the market for a new road bike with
discs it's going to come with through
axles personally I actually think that
is a very good thing now that new bike
that you may well be buying chances are
it could well be an epic inderal road
bike or a gravel bike
and we actually were quite interested to
see whether or not there are things that
gravel bytes can do that road bikes
can't so we put loyalty to the test if
you want to see that video you can get
through to it just up there or to
actually see whether or not disc brakes
can help me stop faster well there's
another pseudo scientific experiment
just down there otherwise make sure you
subscribe to GCN to do that just click
on the globe I forgot to pick up my
wheel sorry okay